Tell Him That I Miss Our Little Talks
by these-words-are-my-own
Summary: What would have happened if Blaine hadn't cheated? How would the rest of the season have panned out for Kurt and Blaine? An alternate Season 4, beginning with The Break Up.
1. The Break Up

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own anything, Glee does. The title is taken from Of Monsters and Men's 'Little Talks'. Some chunks are taken directly from the episodes - everything else is mine.

* * *

**The Break Up**

Blaine stared in disbelief at his phone, the small click from Kurt hanging up echoing in his ear. Kurt hadn't responded to his "I love you" with his usual "I love you too". Granted, he was clearly busy right now, but it was four little words that would have taken less than two seconds to say. And this was the first time _ever_ since they had first said those words to each other over a year ago that one of them hadn't said it at the end of a phone call.

Numb, Blaine made his way to the empty choir room and sank down into one of the plastic chairs lined up at the back. He continued to stare at his phone, unsure of exactly how he was feeling at the moment. Was it anger? Disappointment? Sadness? A mixture of all of the above?

It wouldn't have been so bad if tonight was going to be the first missed phone date, but it seemed that in the weeks that Kurt had been in New York – and in particular, ever since he had started his job at Vogue – the number of missed phone calls and skype dates had slowly been growing. Logically, Blaine knew that it wasn't Kurt's fault – he was in a new city with a new job that he was excited about - he couldn't exactly ignore it in favour of a phone call with his boyfriend. And Blaine hated feeling like he was being all clingy, but damn it, he was allowed to miss his boyfriend and he was starting to get frustrated with hanging around in front of his laptop for a call that never came. Did Kurt even miss Blaine? Blaine knew he was being irrational, but to him it seemed that with all that Kurt had going on in his life right now, he didn't even have the time to miss the boyfriend that was waiting for him back home.

Blaine closed his eyes and tipped his head forward, his forehead resting against the phone gripped in his hands. He was supposed to be seeing Kurt in two weeks, but right now that two weeks seemed like an eternity. And he was worried. Kurt loved him, he _knew_ that, and he loved Kurt just as much, but he began to worry that the combination of the big city (most likely filled with hundreds of handsome, mature gay men Blaine couldn't help but think bitterly, even though he knew Kurt would never cheat), the stress of a new job/senior year at high school as well as their current string of disjointed communication would eventually put too much strain on their relationship. And losing Kurt… Blaine couldn't honestly think of anything worse that could happen to him in this world, and he had been through a lot of crap throughout his reasonably short life.

Determined, Blaine's eyes snapped open and he began to scroll through his phone. It had been far too long since he had last seen the man that he loved, and he was damn well going to try and fix things before they were broken beyond repair. Finding what we was after and hitting 'dial', he waited to be connected to the airline. He needed to change his flight – he needed to get to New York _now_.

* * *

"I haven't even sung in the shower since regionals," Finn groaned, his head hitting the back of the sofa.

Kurt mentally rolled his eyes. He loved his brother, and he was happy to see him here in New York, but seriously, that boy had clearly learned some tricks from Rachel on the art of the melodramatic. He knew Finn was probably feeling a bit out of place here, especially after the whole army debacle and whatever was going on with Rachel at the moment, but staying at home wallowing wasn't the solution. And really, there was absolutely no excuse for him to be leaving this apartment, particularly to a prestigious college karaoke bar, in what he was wearing. Before Kurt had moved here the pair of them had been living together for nearly two years – was it too much to ask for Finn to have picked up _something_ from him in regards to fashion?

A knock at the door prevented Kurt from saying anything further, either in the defence of fashion or an attempt to drag his ass off the sofa. He slid the apartment door open to find a large bunch of roses hovering in front of his face before moving aside to reveal –

"Blaine!" He couldn't stop the wide grin from crossing his face at the sight of his gorgeous and very much missed boyfriend standing at his front door. He flung his arms around his neck, Blaine quickly moving the roses aside so they weren't crushed. "What are you doing here; I wasn't expecting you for another two weeks!"

"I know, but I just couldn't wait any longer, I missed you too much." Blaine smiled, handing the roses over to a beaming Kurt.

"I missed you too," Kurt replied before leaning forward and pressing his lips hard to Blaine's, frustration momentarily bubbling through him as he was pushed away by a bouncing Rachel dragging Blaine in for a hug. It was short-lived however when he saw how happy his boyfriend was at being reunited with Rachel and Finn. Realising that he was still clutching the roses in his hands, he grabbed the travel bag Blaine had brought with him and put it in his room, and was just putting the roses in water when he overheard Rachel saying;

"And now you can come with us to Callbacks! It'll be just like old times, the four of us taking on the town!" She gave an excited little squeal as Blaine asked "Callbacks?"

Quickly dumping the roses in the vase he had procured, Kurt rushed forward and interrupted Rachel's explanation. "Uh, Rachel, now that Blaine's here, I don't know if I'm really in the mood to go out anymore." He tried to throw her a significant look, but she didn't seem to notice.

"What do you mean you're not in the mood? You were before! Come on Kurt, I want us to sing together again, please?"

"Hey look, if you were all going to go out that's fine with me," Blaine added. "I'd love to see a bit of New York. I've never been before, and I don't want to ruin your plans." When Kurt turned his glare towards his boyfriend, Blaine quickly leant forward and murmured in his ear; "we can always decide to leave early if we're not having fun. Or want some fun of our own," before giving Kurt a quick wink and a significant look of his own.

Kurt smiled, feeling his cheeks flush slightly at the way his boyfriend was staring into his eyes (they had been together for over a year, how was it he was still able to make Kurt feel this way?), very clearly being able to read his mind. "Well, if it's okay with you I guess we can head out for a while." And as Rachel clapped happily before running off to find her bag, Kurt leaned forward to Blaine and whispered, "and the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave" with a suggestive wink of his own, grinning as Blaine's eyes widened as he sashayed out the door, deliberately swinging his hips suggestively. It didn't take long for Blaine to follow.

* * *

"What's the deal?" Blaine muttered to Kurt in Callbacks, his head tilted towards Brody and Rachel on stage as he kept his voice low so Finn couldn't overhear.

Kurt groaned lowly. "You don't wanna know. So, are you having fun on your first night out in New York?"

Blaine smiled. "Yeah actually, I am. I can see why you love it here – it's got so much more to offer than Lima ever could."

Kurt smile back fondly. "Oh, I don't know. There's one thing in Lima that New York just doesn't have." He reached forward and grasped Blaine's hand. He watched as Blaine's smile grew wider. "I can't wait until you're here with me next year."

Kurt's smile faded slightly as Blaine's gaze grew wistful – sad almost. "Me too," he replied, his thumb gently stroking over the back of Kurt's hand.

He was about to ask what was wrong when Rachel came bounding up, her song finished, raving about how fun it was to be on that stage before trying to convince Kurt to go up and sing.

"I've got a song to sing," Blaine said, standing up. He headed towards the stage and sat down in front of the piano. "Hi everyone," he started, his fingers already tinkering with the keys. "I want to sing a song that's very special to me. This is a song that I sang the first time that I saw the love of my life, so Kurt, this is for you."

Kurt couldn't contain his joy at Blaine's dedication, and when the first few notes of Teenage Dream began to play, he knew the smile on his face was probably a mile wide. It wasn't the same as when they first met, surrounded by uniformed boys singing a Capella in a school that seemed too good to be true, but for Kurt it was just as special. It was a slowed down, much more romantic version of the song that led Kurt to fall in love with the boy - no, man - sitting at the piano, and every time Blaine would look up into his eyes as he sang out this song that meant so much to the both of them he felt like his heart was going to burst.

A round of applause went up when Blaine finished, his smile slightly bashful as he returned to their table. He never got a chance to sit down though as Kurt grabbed his hand, turned to the others with a quick "it's getting late, we're heading off, no need to rush back" before dragging his boyfriend out the door and back to the privacy and comfort of Kurt's bed.

* * *

Blaine absently hummed to himself as he flipped the pancake over in the frying pan. For once he had woken up before Kurt (in this relationship, Kurt was definitely the early riser), and he had spent who knows how long watching his gloriously naked boyfriend sleeping next to him before he felt like he was probably verging on creeper territory and decided to throw on some clothes and start breakfast.

He had just finished placing the pancake onto a plate when he felt a pair of arms encircle his waist from behind and a chin rest on his shoulder.

"Mmm, good morning. That smells delicious."

Blaine turned slightly so he could look at his boyfriend who was now wearing a loose shirt and a pair or sweats. "I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed. You've kind of spoiled it by getting out of it though."

"Well I'll just have to go back then. And drag you with me," he added with a wicked grin, tightening his grip around Blaine's waist and dropping a light kiss on the corner of his mouth before slowly moving down his neck.

Blaine tilted his head slightly to allow Kurt better access with a content hum when stomping emerging from Rachel's room caused the pair to turn, Kurt disentangling himself from Blaine as they stared in curiosity at a fuming Rachel.

"Kurt, have you spoken to Finn this morning?"

"No, I've only just woken up. Considering how much he likes to sleep in I would have thought he'd still be in bed. Clearly I was wrong?"

"He _left_. Without a single word! Not a goodbye, not even a note or anything! Who does that? Who leaves in the middle of the night without even a goodbye! Well I'm not going to stand for this. He thinks he can just run away? I'm taking the first flight that I can out to Lima. I'll _make_ him talk to me."

As Rachel grabbed a jacket and stormed out of the apartment, Kurt and Blaine turned to look at each other, shock written on their faces.

"Well that was interesting," Blaine commented.

Kurt shrugged. "Another day, another Finn and Rachel drama. Anyway," Kurt began bouncing on his toes as he flung his arms around Blaine's neck. "I can't wait to show you around New York and have you all to myself. There are so many places I want to take you –" The sound of Kurt's ringtone echoing through the apartment interrupted his rambling.

"Ignore it," Blaine pleaded, quickly grabbing Kurt by the waist and pulling him towards him before he could move away. "It's probably just Rachel realising she's forgotten something," he muttered in between the kisses he was trailing down Kurt's throat. Kurt's soft moans of pleasure quickly turned to a growl of frustration when his phone began ringing for a second time. He pulled away from Blaine and went to his room, returning with his pants from the night before in his hands as he rummaged through the pocket for his phone. Frowning when he saw who was calling, he quickly answered.

"Hello? Really? On a weekend? Yes, I understand, I was just wondering why… Sure, yeah okay I can do that. Bye."

Catching Blaine's questioning glance, Kurt gave a wry smile. "That was work, I have to go in. It shouldn't take too long, and then I can show you around like I promised okay?"

"What about breakfast?"

"I've got no time, I'll just have to grab something on the way." He quickly leaned forward to peck Blaine on the lips before rushing off to get changed, leaving Blaine standing in the kitchen with a crestfallen expression and an empty skillet sitting on the stove.

* * *

Kurt slid the door to his apartment shut with a sigh. He was exhausted, but a smile grew on his face when he looked up to see Blaine sitting on his couch, staring at his folded hands that were sitting on his knees.

"Hey! Sorry I took so long at work! I swear, that place feels like a madhouse sometimes, but I'm done for now and we can continue our day togeth- wait, what's your bag doing there?"

Kurt blinked as he finally noticed Blaine's carry on propped up next to his couch, fully packed.

"I have to leave soon to catch my flight back to Ohio," Blaine muttered, still looking down at his hands.

"Already? But I wasn't gone _that _long at work…" Kurt glanced at the clock and quickly amended. "Okay maybe I was, but surely we've still got time together before you go and-"

"I can't do this anymore."

Blaine's voice was quiet, but it was the crack in his voice that made Kurt stop mid-sentence.

"What? Do what anymore?"

Blaine finally lifted his head and for the first time Kurt noticed that his eyes were glassy and slightly red, as if he'd been crying. "This. Us. I can't do it. I came here hoping it would make things better, make _me_ feel better, but it hasn't. It's not working."

Kurt froze, his blood feeling like ice in his veins. "What are you saying?" he asked quietly.

"What I'm saying is, this whole long distance thing… it's not working Kurt. And I think… I think maybe we should take a break. From us."

Kurt took a step back, feeling as if he'd just been slapped in the face . "You're breaking up with me?" he whispered.

"No!" Blaine cried. "No, not breaking up, I just think we need a little time apart-"

"Sounds an awful lot like a break up to me," Kurt spat, folding his arms across his chest as anger began to build. When confronted, particularly in an argument, Kurt wasn't the type to work things through calmly – he was the kind of person who got defensive. And right now he was feeling particularly defensive.

"Would you just listen to me!" Blaine replied angrily. At Kurt's shocked look – Blaine almost never raised his voice, and certainly never towards him, even when he was angry – Blaine took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't want to break up with you, but can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that what we've been doing ever since you've moved to New York is working? How many phone calls have been missed? How many skype dates have been cancelled? And today was supposed to be our day together, after we spent last night on that weird night out with all that Finn and Rachel and Brody drama, and you've spent most of it working!"

"Well I'm sorry that I have a _job_ to worry about, a job that I actually really like and would like to do well in! What do you want me to do, quit?"

"No! _God_ no Kurt, I know how much this job means to you! That's what I'm trying to say to you, why I think we should take a break! This job, this life here in New York, it's so brand new for you and it's a lot for you to adjust to, and it's completely understandable that everything is overwhelming right now. You deserve to be able to concentrate on your work without having to worry about whether or not you'll be missing a skype date with me." Blaine paused. "And I deserve to be able to live my life instead of hanging around all day in the hope that you'll be able to make one of our dates."

Tears were welling up in Kurt's eyes, but he refused to let them spill over. His arms fell to his sides with his fists clenched as his anger continued to boil. "Well I am so sorry that what we have is such an inconvenience for you."

Blaine ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "Kurt, I've said if before and I'll say it again – you are the love of my life, the man I want to spend the rest of my life with and my best friend. And I feel like if we try to keep up with this dance, of trying to juggle work and school and life and us, then we'll get to a point where something will happen that will damage our relationship beyond repair, and I don't want that. I think we just need to get our individual lives on track at first, and then once that happens, we can go back to focusing on our relationship."

"Our relationship? Last I checked, a relationship was supposed to be an equal partnership, yet here _you_ are making decisions about _our_ future, without even having the decency to discuss it with me! You've never said anything to me before about all this - not one word! And you've _clearly_ been thinking about this for a while. What was your plan, come to New York, have sex with me one last time then break up with me so you can go back to Lima and find some new guy who's closer to home?!"

"I do NOT want another guy, I want YOU! I've only ever wanted you! And I _would_ have talked to you about it, but it seems that every time we talk, 90% of the conversation is about you, or about how great New York is! It's like my silly little high school life isn't important to you anymore! I love you Kurt, but sometimes you can be really selfish, you know that?"

A shocked silence descended upon the room as Blaine quickly snapped his mouth shut, but it was too late – the words were out and he couldn't take them back.

"Kurt, I didn't mean that-"

"No Blaine, you obviously did otherwise you wouldn't have said it. But as I'm so _selfish_ your opinion shouldn't mean anything to me – it only matters what _I_ think right?"

"Kurt…" Letting out a heavy sigh as he caught a glimpse of the time, Blaine bent down and picked up his bag. "I really don't want to have to leave like this, but I have a plane to catch. I know you're angry, but please, just _please_ think about what I've said. I love you, and I don't want to lose you. I'm just trying to find a way to prevent that."

"Yeah, well you've done a really good job at that haven't you?"

Swallowing the lump that had grown in his throat, Blaine could only nod as he walked towards the apartment door and slid it open. Turning back once more, he said quietly "I love you," before closing it behind him.

Once it was shut, Kurt sank down onto the couch, buried his face in his hands, and cried.

* * *

**A/N:** I said that this would be a 'what if Blaine didn't cheat' – I never said it would end happily! I figured that if the writers were so determined to separate Klaine, then this was a way that they could have done it without falling back on the old cheating trope, especially since they had already set up issues in previous episodes they could have expanded on. (Honestly I thought that it happened way too quickly – it would have been more realistic for these problems to come to a head after a few more episodes, but I'm not going to get into that.) Plus I wanted to do it in a way where there was no single 'bad guy' and show that they both made mistakes and were equally at fault for their communication breakdown (I hope I succeeded).

Yeah, so basically what I'll be doing is continuing on Season 4 as if what I had written had happened. They're not going to be elaborate, long chapters – it is simply going to be rewritten/additional scenes as if these were actually what you saw on the show (although let's face it, they never would have shown the small amount of affection I had written for this ep). I hope you enjoy!


	2. The Role You Were Born To Play

**The Role You Were Born To Play**

"Hey, as president and vice-president we can pretty much decree whichever parts we want, right?"

Blaine continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of him, slumped against the notice board as Sam scribbled down his name on the audition sign-up sheet.

"I'm not sure I'm gonna do the musical this year. I'm not in the right head space to do a project like Grease." Blaine finally turned to look at Sam. "Ever since I came back from New York, I haven't been able to sleep; I've lost my appetite – I don't even gel on weekends."

Sam stared at Blaine and deadpanned; "sounds pretty serious then."

"Sam, Kurt is my soul mate. We've talked about spending the rest of our lives together, about retiring in Provincetown and buying a lighthouse and starting our own artist's colony. We've had fights before, but never one like this and I've tried getting in touch with him to try and sort this out, but it's impossible! He won't pick up my phone calls; he won't answer my texts…"

"Dude, I get it – except for the lighthouse part," Sam said. "But I'm confused; I thought you broke up with him?"

Blaine sighed in frustration. "I didn't break UP with him. I just thought we needed some space so that we could get everything else in our lives in order. I didn't want him to feel guilty about missing our dates because he was so busy, but I didn't mean that I wanted us to cut off all communication altogether! But it's been weeks and I haven't heard from him at all and it's _killing_ me – I don't want us to be over Sam; I don't want to lose him and I'm afraid that I have."

"This sucks, I know, but everyone's been there. You'll get through it."

Sam walked off, but his words didn't make him feel any better. Sam couldn't possibly know how he was feeling right now. Yes, he had cared deeply for Mercedes and a part of him probably still did, but that was a relationship that had barely scraped through a couple of months. Kurt and Blaine had been together for a year and a half – for them it had never been just a high school romance. They had talked extensively about their future together – their wedding, how many kids they wanted, where they wanted to live. They were each other's firsts in everything that counted, and they fully intended on being each other's lasts. And now it seemed that a stupid argument, all borne from what Blaine had thought was the right thing to do, had shattered all of that and it was breaking his heart.

All of this weighed heavily upon his shoulders, and before he knew it, he was standing on a stage belting out 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' to Finn and Artie with Kurt the only thing on his mind.

When he had finished, he barely heard the applause or Artie proclaiming that he was the "Danny Zuko of their dreams". It wasn't until Finn (_Kurt's_ step-brother a little voice in his head whispered treacherously) started praising him that he finally burst out; "I can't!"

At the questioning looks from the pair seated in the auditorium, he continued on with his heart in his throat. "I can't Finn, I'm sorry; I didn't want to let you down. Grease is a romance, and I don't think I would be able to play the truth of Danny Zuko; my heart and my mind just won't be in it, not as long as I can't stop thinking about how I may have ruined my own chance at a happy ending. Thank you for letting me audition, but I just can't."

Blaine was about to walk off when he was interrupted by Artie. "Wait! Is there any part you think you _could_ play?"

"I don't know. Maybe Teen Angel? It's only one scene but… probably not," Blaine finished with a shrug, before quickly rushing off stage. He felt like he was falling apart, and he wanted to find somewhere quiet before he would finally allow himself to cry.

* * *

Burt Hummel groaned as he collapsed onto the couch of his Washington apartment with a beer in one hand and the remote for the television in the other. Kurt would probably kill him if he saw him right now but he figured he was only having one beer and it was light beer at that, so what was the harm? Besides, it had been one heck of a day in Congress and he needed to wind down. Was he too old to lament that it was only Monday and the weekend was still four days away?

His phone started to ring so he dropped the remote onto the couch to fish it out of his pocket, smiling when he saw that it was Kurt who was calling.

"Speak of the devil," he muttered to himself before answering. "Hey kiddo, I was just thinking about you. I've gotta say, I'm kind of surprised to be hearing from you. It seems all I've really heard from you in the last couple of weeks is an email or two and a couple of texts."

Burt frowned when his teasing was met with silence on the other end. "Kurt?"

"Dad, am I selfish?"

Burt's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Where did this come from? You know I was only kidding right?"

"Yeah, I know that," Kurt's quiet voice replied. "I just need you to tell me, do you think I'm selfish? And I want the truth – no lying or sugar coating it because I'm your son."

Burt breathed out before placing the beer down on the end table beside the couch – right now didn't exactly seem like the best time to be drinking.

"Well," Burt answered honestly. "Kurt, you have one of the kindest hearts of anyone I've ever met – you get that from your mom you know. But there are times, when you find something that you really want, where you have a tendency to be so focused on it that you sometimes forget about anything or anyone else in your quest to get it." The first thought that popped in Burt's mind was two years ago when Kurt was so determined to see that Sound of Music thing that he was willing to forgo their traditional Friday family dinner despite knowing how much it meant to Burt. However, there was no way in hell Burt was going to mention it, for not long afterwards Burt had suffered that damn heart attack, and he was _not_ going to make his son feel guilty over something that was in no way his fault.

"So I am selfish," Kurt muttered.

"No Kurt, you're human. Everyone can be a little bit selfish, it's only natural." When there was no response from the other end of the phone Burt continued. "What's got you asking this? Who says you're selfish?"

"Blaine did."

This time the shock of this statement made Burt pull the phone away and stare at it as if it had bitten him. He hurriedly put it back to his ear in case Kurt had continued; he hadn't. "I'm sorry, did you say Blaine? Blaine Anderson?"

"Do you know any other Blaine's?" Kurt snapped.

"Hey, calm down. I'm just having a hard time believing it. That boy thinks that you're the moon and the stars, I can't imagine him saying that to you, or to anyone else about you."

"Yeah well, he did."

Burt frowned when he heard the hitch in his son's voice. "Kurt, what's going on? Is everything all right?"

Burt's heart broke when he heard the choked sob coming down the line. "No," Kurt said. "Blaine and I… we had a fight, a big one, a couple of weeks ago when he came to New York – that's when he called me selfish."

"A couple of weeks ago? That must have been one hell of a fight if you're still this upset about it. Why didn't you call me earlier?"

"I was too angry, too upset. I was trying to run things through. Dad, we… I think we broke up."

Burt sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he heard Kurt try to stifle his sobs, wishing like hell he could be there to wrap his boy up in a warm hug. This – well this he wasn't expecting, not in a million years. No wonder Kurt sounded so devastated.

"You say you _think_ you broke up? You're not sure?"

"Yes. No. I don't know; I just don't know Dad."

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay. Why don't you tell me what happened okay, and start from the beginning. How did this all happen? Did it have something to do with Blaine calling you selfish?"

"Kind of." Burt listened as Kurt began to talk, his voice sounding both more angry and upset the longer he talked, explaining how Blaine had come to visit him in New York a few weeks ago; how it had all seemed great at first, but then Kurt had been called in to work so he hadn't been able to spend much time with Blaine, resulting in a huge fight when he finally got home with Blaine confronting him saying that he wanted to break up.

"He said I was being selfish, that I was missing our dates and when I did make them all I could talk about was myself and New York, that I was neglecting him."

"Were you?" Burt interrupted.

"What, so you're on his side now? You're my dad; you're supposed to be on my side!"

"Hey, I'm not taking any sides here okay; I'm trying to get all the facts straight so I can help you. You wanted me to be honest with you before and now I'm asking you to do the same for me."

"I… I may have missed a few. But it's not like I was doing it on purpose – I couldn't just forget about my job! And what was I supposed to do – never talk about New York? It's kind of a big thing for me right now, and is it so wrong of me to want to share something so important to me with my boyfriend?"

"No it's not – I get it buddy, I really do, and I'm sure Blaine knows that deep down as well. But surely Blaine is important to you as well?"

Kurt gave an indignant gasp. "Of _course _he is Dad, I never said he wasn't! I _love _him – he means more to me than anything!"

"I know he does; a blind man could see how much you love him. Did you try telling Blaine that? You being in New York is just as scary for him as it is for you – he probably just wanted some reassurance that no matter what you're still gonna love him."

There was silence from Kurt for a few moments as his anger momentarily deflated. "I never thought about that," he said quietly. "I was just so angry when he started going on about taking a break from us –"

"Wait, I'm going to need you to elaborate a bit for me here. You said he wanted to take a break – what did he say exactly to get to this point?"

"He said that I needed time to adjust to my job, to balancing that and my personal life, so we should break up until things get back on track, as if _he _knew what was best for me more than what I did!"

Burt could hear Kurt start to get riled up again so he tried his best to placate him. "Which was wrong of him, sure, but there's something I just need you to clarify for me – before you said Blaine suggested taking a break and now you're saying he said you should break up – which one was it?"

"It doesn't matter, they both mean the same thing don't they?" Kurt snapped.

"Not necessarily. A break up more often than not ends up being pretty permanent." Burt disregarded the whole 'constantly break up and get back together' saga that was his step-son and Rachel's relationship – that was a whole other kettle of fish. "From what you've told me it sounds like Blaine just wanted your relationship to take a bit of a backseat for a while until you both adjust to living your lives in separate states. And I hate to say it, but I can kind of see where he's coming from."

"You spend half of your life in DC while Carol stays back in Lima and I don't see you suggesting the two of you go on a break!"

"That's different Kurt. This is our second marriage for both of us. And we've both been adults for a long time – we learnt how to juggle spouses and children and jobs a long time ago. Do I miss her? Sure, but we know how to handle the distance – it's not the first time we've had to deal with being separated from the people we love most. You and Blaine – you've been together for a while now, but you have to remember that in that time you were still in high school, still living at home. Your biggest responsibilities were your next exam or how you were going to afford your next shopping spree. The real world is a whole different ball game kiddo. It takes time to learn to handle all the new things that have been thrown your way – it sounds to me like Blaine is trying to make it easier for you to achieve that balance. I'm not saying that it doesn't suck, or whether or not he's actually right, but I _am _saying I can see where he's coming from.

"Look Kurt, you're my kid, and all I've ever wanted is to see you happy, and I've gotta say, I don't think I have ever seen you happier than whenever you are with Blaine. What the two of you have together is pretty special, and the Kurt I know wouldn't give that up without a fight. I think you need to sit down and think about what really happened between the two of you, without getting angry or upset, and try to see Blaine's point of view as well as your own. I think that's the only way you're going to be able to sort all of this stuff out. Have you spoken to him since the fight?"

"No. I…" Kurt paused, and Burt waited patiently. "I've been avoiding him. He's tried calling and texting dozens of times but I've just ignored them. I've really stuffed this up haven't I?"

"No Kurt, you haven't. I think the two of you might have miscommunicated a bit, but the bottom line is that you're both young; you are bound to make mistakes and hit bumps in the road, especially since this is the only relationship you guys have ever had. It's a learning curve for the both of you, and unfortunately there are going to be times when you accidentally hurt each other, simply because you haven't learnt to deal with any problems in another way yet. The important thing to remember is that you love each other, and if you really want to be together you will find a way to make this work."

Kurt was quiet for a few moments as he thought over what his father had told him. "Thanks Dad, for letting me talk and for the advice. You really helped."

"I'm glad kiddo. Like I told you before, all I ever want is to see you happy."

"I know. I better go, it's getting late. I love you."

"Love you too buddy."

When he heard the sound of the dial tone, Burt switched off his phone and added quietly "and good luck," before grabbing his beer again. Now was _definitely_ the time for a drink.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, so I added the Burt scene because a) it sucked how Kurt was absent from this episode and we didn't get to see how he was feeling and b) Burt is awesome, and the show could always use a bit more Burt Hummel. Plus I think Burt would have been a better outlet to talk to rather than Rachel (although I have no doubt Kurt would have talked to her about it) because let's face it, Rachel wouldn't have been able to give any unbiased advice considering she was also going through her own issues with Finn at the same time.


	3. Glease

**Glease**

Kurt let out a groan as he and Rachel stretched on the floor of the NYADA dance classroom. They released each other's hands just as he felt his phone vibrate with an incoming text.

"Ooh, Grease update from Tina," he said as he opened the message. "Apparently the girl who is playing Sandy has gained so much weight that she can't fit into her clothes."

Rachel winced. "Ooh, that's unfortunate, but… doesn't really have anything to do with us." Rachel watched as Kurt's face turned pensive. "No. No, we're not! We are not going to see it."

"Not going to see what?" Cassandra July asked as she strode into her classroom. Kurt and Rachel both stood, Kurt hanging back slightly with his hands in his pockets as Rachel and her teacher exchanged words. He tried to make a good impression by making a remark about Cassandra's abs to which she replied "that's sweet" before asking them to move the bar and returning to her original question. "So you were saying, not going to see what?"

Kurt helped Rachel shift the bar to the middle of the floor, gesturing in Rachel's direction as he answered. "Well, her recently broken up with ex-boyfriend is directing my 'I'm not really sure what we are' boyfriend in a school production of Grease, and we've got a bunch of friends in it so we were debating whether or not we should go."

"When is it?"

"This weekend."

"Oh. Well you should go." Cassandra now turned to Rachel and was saying something about how Rachel should go for closure but all Kurt could hear was "you should go", repeated over and over within his head. His mind made up, he turned towards Rachel.

"Rachel, I'm going. I need to see him; I haven't seen or talked to him since. I haven't been sleeping – I've been living off Ambien and The Notebook. I need to sort things out, and I can't do it over the phone. I know it might be hard for you, but please come with me."

Rachel started explaining how even if they wanted to go they wouldn't have the money, so when Cassandra mentioned taking her frequent flyer miles he quickly nodded to Rachel. He didn't care that this practical stranger was giving away her free miles. All he cared about was seeing Blaine again – he _needed_ to see Blaine again. And he didn't care how he got there to do it.

* * *

Kurt clutched the small bunch of red and yellow roses close to his chest as he and Rachel wandered through the halls of McKinley, reminiscing about their days here. Realistically he knew it had really only been a handful of months since he was a student here, but with everything that had been going on in his life lately it felt like an eternity.

He smiled widely when he saw Mercedes heading towards them, enveloping his friend in a warm hug – he hadn't realised how much he had missed her. But when she suggested heading backstage to see their old friends, all he could think of was _Blaine, Blaine, Blaine_.

And when he saw him rounding a corner backstage, dressed all in white he was certain that his heart skipped a beat.

"Kurt?" Blaine said, a twinge of hope in his voice. "I didn't think I'd see you this weekend."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world, would we Kurt?" Rachel told him as Kurt stood there speechless. He had come all this way to see him and now he couldn't think of anything to say. Glancing down, he realised he still held the roses in his hands.

"Here," he said, handing them to Blaine. "These are for you. For luck, not that you'll need it."

A small smile graced Blaine's features as he took the roses, and Kurt was taken back to almost exactly a year ago when he had stood on a staircase with this boy in this very school handing him a bunch of roses exactly the same as the ones he was giving now, the same bashful smile on Blaine's face as he held them to his nose. He was broken out of his reverie when Finn appeared, and he simply stood by stealing glances at Blaine and realising Blaine was doing the same, as Rachel and Finn had perhaps the most awkward conversation in all of history. However it didn't take long before the four had to part ways – Kurt and Rachel to take their seats and Finn and Blaine to get ready. But just before they left backstage to take their seats Kurt turned back once more towards Blaine's direction only to catch Blaine's eyes as he did the same before the curtain cut him from view.

* * *

Kurt paced back and forth outside his old locker, torn as to what he should do. He wanted to go and find Blaine, but the proud, stubborn side of him didn't want to be the one to track him down but instead let Blaine to come to him. Just as he gave a mental 'screw you' to that little voice in his head, it ultimately won the battle anyway when he saw Blaine turn the corner and head towards him.

"Kurt, I've been meaning to talk to you," Blaine said, stopping a couple of feet in front of Kurt.

"I've been meaning to talk to you too." Kurt glanced down at the outfit Blaine was still wearing for the play. "So, Teen Angel huh? I would've thought they'd offer you the role of Danny." Kurt had definitely been surprised when some guy he had never seen before had stepped out on the stage as Danny Zuko instead of Blaine. He was alright, he supposed, but Kurt knew that Blaine would have absolutely killed it as Danny.

"They uh, they did. But I turned it down – I didn't really have the heart to play it."

"Oh," Kurt looked down at his feet. "Sorry."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault."

Kurt looked up and raised his eyebrow. They both knew full well that Blaine was just being polite – Kurt had a feeling that the combination of their fight and Kurt ignoring his calls would have been a major factor in Blaine's funk lately, but neither said anything.

After a few moments of silence, Kurt finally decided to buck up the courage and say what he came here to say.

"Blaine… I didn't just come here tonight to see you perform. I came here to say… I thought about what you said. About us and about what our relationship had been like since I moved to New York and… and you were right. I was neglecting you and I'm sorry. I was taking advantage of the way you feel about me by... I don't know, putting our relationship up a shelf only to take it down when I needed it because I figured you would always be there because I knew you loved me. And that wasn't fair." He saw Blaine nod slowly before he continued. "But I'm still angry at you. I know I was being selfish but if you were feeling so down about it you should have tried harder to tell me – interrupt one of my New York rants or tell me to shut up or _something_. We've always been honest with each other from the very beginning, even when it was about something that we didn't want to hear. I know you didn't want to hurt me, but by not saying anything you were just hurting yourself, which in turn hurts me anyway. You should have said something earlier instead of letting it reach a boiling point and then deciding what was best for us without talking to me first."

"I know," Blaine whispered. "And I'm sorry, so, so sorry. I've felt terrible these last few weeks about everything that happened, about the things I said to you and… God, I've missed you so much. I'm _so_ sorry."

Kurt gave a small smile, but didn't attempt to move towards Blaine no matter how much he wanted to. It was only a few feet but the distance between them felt huge, and he so desperately wanted to be in his arms, but he knew he had to finish what he came here to say and if he was holding Blaine right now he might not have the courage to continue. "I know, and I've missed you too. But you were right. My life right now – it's a bit of a mess. My job is just so full on, and I swear, dealing with all of Rachel's drama is a full time job all in itself." The two of them shared a quiet laugh. "I need to get on top of everything; learn how to balance my personal and my professional life in New York before I screw up the life that I left here in Lima. So this break idea… I think we should do it. Temporarily I mean, because the second I have my life on track I'm going to want you as my full time boyfriend again." Kurt hesitated. "That is if you want me back, that is."

"Kurt, of _course_ I do, you know that. I love you so much; I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you."

Kurt nodded, tears welling in his eyes, as a small part of him rejoiced because even though he already knew it, he still needed to hear Blaine say the words, that he still wanted Kurt as much as Kurt wanted him.

"So, I guess that's it then. Just… can I still call you? Because you're still my best friend."

Blaine gave a watery smile. "And you're mine too. Of course you can call me whenever you want – I made you a promise, remember? I promised to always pick up your call, no matter what I'm doing. That hasn't changed."

The urge to hug Blaine was overwhelming now, and just as Kurt took a step forward to do so Rachel came walking around the corner, looking upset. "Are you okay?"

"I just wanna go home," she replied, grabbing a hold of Kurt's arm.

"I thought this was home?"

"Not anymore."

Rachel began to steer him towards the exit, but he pulled back for a moment so he could turn once more to Blaine. "So, I'll talk to you sometime?"

"Yeah. I'll catch you later. Have a safe flight back."

Kurt smiled and gave a small wave before leaving with Rachel. He didn't say goodbye. Because he also made a promise – a promise to never say goodbye to Blaine, and that was a promise that _he_ planned on keeping.

* * *

**A/N: **I know it was a deleted scene, but it was just so sweet that I had to put in an allusion to the box scene. If there happens to be anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about (I'm sure this is highly unlikely) just youtube 'the box scene' and you'll see what I mean.


	4. Dynamic Duets

**Dynamic Duets**

Blaine, along with half of the New Directions, stared at the laptop screen as the pixelated man wearing the Dalton blazer laid out his challenge. The morning had started out reasonably normal (well, normal enough for anyone at McKinley really), with a meeting of the Secret Society of Superheroes club as Blaine aka. Nightbird introduced new members and deflected questions from Asian Persuasion aka. Tina about how things were going with Kurt. (Kurt had called a few times since the school musical, but things were still a little awkward as they adjusted to the new status of their relationship and he didn't exactly want to tell Tina that in front of the rest of the group.) But then Chai Tea had come in with an emergency and now Blaine stood here in front of a trophy case that was absent one Nationals trophy and a message from someone he didn't know from his old school, because even pixelated and their voice distorted, he was sure that he knew his old friends well enough that he would have recognised the person fondling that trophy.

Later during Glee club as Finn tried his hardest to be the new Mr Shue (right down to the sweater vest, which Blaine had no qualms with per se, but thought was a little weird considering in all the time he had known him, he had never seen Finn wear anything outside of football jerseys and loose shirts), it became clear that no one else was going to do anything about their missing trophy. Deciding to take matters into his own hands - (he was Nightbird, the Nocturnal Avenger, after all - Blaine left to face the Warblers and reclaim their trophy. He felt bad about being a little snippy towards Finn – he was trying after all – but considering all the bad blood between him and his old school now, he wasn't really looking forward to going back.

* * *

Blaine glanced around him as he descended the Dalton staircase. His swore his heart skipped a beat for a moment when he remembered that this was the very same staircase where just over two years ago he met the boy who would later become the love of his life. The fluttery feeling in his stomach quickly vanished when he spotted Sebastian at the bottom.

"Sebastian. Of course it was you."

"No it wasn't I swear. I've turned over a new leaf remember? No more bullying, blackmail or assault this year."

"That must be boring for you," Blaine said dryly as they walked in tandem down the hall, his attention straying as he remembered those terrifying two weeks where he wondered if he would ever see out of his right eye again. He tuned back into what Sebastian was saying when he mentioned that someone was waiting for him in the library.

"Who is?"

"The guy you're here to see - the captain of the Warblers."

Blaine's eyes narrowed in confusion. "I thought you were captain of the Warblers."

And that was how Blaine met Hunter Clarington the 'not remotely bi-curious' new captain. It was all very villainesque, with Hunter displaying a distinct Dr. Evil vibe as he gave his spiel trying to convince Blaine to return to Dalton. At first Blaine brushed it off with a roll of his eyes, but when Hunter mentioned Kurt and 'Blaine Warbler' he hesitated. Hunter wasn't entirely wrong – he had left Dalton because he had wanted to be with Kurt, and since he had joined New Directions a year ago, every now and then someone would refer to him as 'Blaine Warbler' (although more often than not that person tended to be Brittany and Blaine suspected that was because Brittany honestly believed that was his name).

Before he knew it he was surrounded by his former friends (he still wasn't sure if he could count them as such after the slushy incident) and Sebastian, all trying to convince him to return to Dalton and presenting him with a familiar blazer.

"That's not going to work on me," he stated with a tight smile.

"Then why be afraid to try it on?" Hunter asked, before Blaine felt the familiar feel of the blazer slipping over his shoulders.

He had done it because his intention had been to show the other boys how it didn't faze him, but then Sebastian was suggesting an impromptu song and before he knew it Blaine was belting out Kelly Clarkson's 'Dark Side', dancing with the Warblers and jumping on furniture like the good old days; where being in show choir didn't mean being at the bottom of the social heap, where everyone had embraced him as one of their own after fleeing his old homophobic school and where he eventually learnt what it was like to fall in love with the boy who was his best friend.

So when Sebastian said that his performance was flawless at the end of the song he almost jumped with how distracted he had been. He felt guilty at the thoughts that had been swirling around in his head, so he quickly turned and left the Warblers behind and headed back to McKinley.

It wasn't until he reached his car that he realised he was still wearing the blazer.

* * *

"Hey, you got a minute?" Blaine asked Finn as he strolled into the choir room.

"Hey dude, I was just gonna text you. How's Operation Rescue/Recovery going?"

"Well, I went back to Dalton. All those blazers and singing with the Warblers again…"

"Wait what?" Finn spluttered. "You sang with the Warblers?"

"It just sort of happened," Blaine said sheepishly. He tried to explain to Finn his current jumble of emotions by describing how it felt to be back there, being embraced as a brother, even throwing in an X-Men reference, knowing how much Finn loved those movies, but Finn wasn't hearing it.

"What no, no, you belong here with us, okay? Wait, does this have anything to do with Kurt, cause I thought you guys were fine now."

"No! I mean, yes, things between Kurt and I are fine and no it doesn't have anything to do with him. Not really anyway." At Finn's look he elaborated. "Look, it's no secret that I transferred here to be with Kurt. And I've enjoyed being here at McKinley, I really have – winning Nationals and making some good friends. But Kurt's gone now and so are most of my friends, and going back there to Dalton, a place that saved my life once and meant so much to me… Despite everything that's happened in the last year, the familiarity of it all still made me question if I still belong here. And then I thought of you – my indecision isn't being fair to you. You need a team that gels." Blaine slumped down into one of the chairs and Finn moved over to join him.

"Yes, absolutely, we need a team with a lot of gel, and you're like the biggest part of that!"

Blaine gave Finn a small smile. "I'm sorry Finn. I… I just need some time to think, that's all." Grabbing his bag, Blaine exited the choir room, leaving a stunned Finn behind.

* * *

The next day Blaine was taking some books out of his locker, his eyes as usual flickering to the pictures of Kurt that were pinned inside when he was confronted by Sam.

"Dude, this is part of some master plan right? You're going back to Dalton to gather intel so we can kick their asses at Sectionals right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Finn told us you were thinking of going back to Dalton. You're not seriously considering it, are you?"

"What? No. I mean… look, I _might_ have been considering it earlier okay. It was a moment of weakness." At Sam's disbelieving look, Blaine continued. "It's just that... the last few weeks have been hard on me. For a while there I thought I had lost Kurt forever – every time he ignored my calls felt like a knife in the heart and it hurt, like, _physically_ hurt. And I know we talked it out and decided to give this break a go, but I've only talked to Kurt twice since then and both times it was Kurt who called me and those conversations were awkward as hell. I want to be able to be the one to call him for once, but I just have no idea what I should say."

Sam watched Blaine carefully, clearly wondering how all this had to do with transferring to Dalton. "Okay… but you were friends before you were boyfriends – shouldn't it be easy?"

Blaine let out a sigh of frustration. "I wish it was – he knows I still love him, but am I still allowed to tell him that? Or do I act all casual like before we started dating and avoid all overly emotional talk whatsoever? But then if I do that what if Kurt starts to think I _don't _have feelings for him anymore? It's hard to go back to being 'just friends' when there are still emotions involved, and all of this has been running around in my head leaving me so confused and really lonely because Kurt wasn't just my boyfriend but my best friend and I don't know who to talk to. So when I went back to Dalton… I don't know, it felt so familiar and it was nice being surrounded by friends again."

"Dude, if you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me, I don't mind! And you're surrounded by friends here – friends who won't try to _blind_ you by the way!"

"I know, I know, and I may have tried to resolve things with them at Regionals, but I haven't 100% forgiven them either, and I _definitely_ haven't forgotten." Blaine looked directly into Sam's worried eyes. "Which was definitely one of the main reasons I decided _not_ to go back. I've been thinking about it long and hard ever since I talked to Finn. Sure it was nice to go back to Dalton again, and sure I initially transferred here to be with Kurt but McKinley has become my home now – McKinley is where my real friends are." Blaine smiled and gave Sam's shoulder a small nudge. "And besides, transferring high schools three times is a bit much don't you think?

Sam grinned. "Absolutely. And I'm glad you're sticking with us, and not just because it would be awesome for Glee – you're my closest friend here and it would have sucked if you'd have left." Blaine smiled warmly at the confession. "Plus I kind of wanted you to be my duet partner, and I thought of a totally epic song that would suit us. "

Blaine pulled away from his locker, intrigued. "Oh really? What song did you have in mind?"

* * *

"See didn't I tell you it would be awesome?" Sam asked Blaine after they brought the house down singing 'Heroes'.

Blaine grinned. "That you did my friend."

"Oh speaking of friends, with this whole 'friends only' thing you have going with Kurt at the moment; I'm no expert at relationships or anything, but if you're worried about calling Kurt maybe you should start out with something small – a text about glee or homework or something like that, just to get the ball rolling. But you can't keep stalling – you're only making yourself feel bad."

Blaine nodded. "That's actually a good idea – thanks Sam. And I will text him, but there's something we need to do first." He solemnly handed Sam a black mask, keeping a matching one for himself.

And as the two of them were running from Dalton as their alter egos Nightbird and Blonde Chameleon, the Nationals trophy in hand and a Dalton blazer left in its place, Blaine couldn't help but feel that his time at Dalton was truly over. He had to admit, he and Sam made a pretty dynamic duo – not as awesome as he and Kurt maybe, but then again no one could ever take Kurt's place. And when they got to McKinley, Sam didn't hesitate in granting Blaine one last request before they changed out of their costumes…

* * *

Kurt's fingers flew over the keyboard as he answered what felt like his 100th email at work that day. So when his phone buzzed indicating that he had received a text it was a welcome distraction.

He frowned in confusion at the text Blaine had sent ('Nightbird and the Blonde Chameleon save the day'?) before he opened the accompanying picture and snorted with laughter. Someone had taken a photo of Blaine and Sam standing side by side as they struck a pose in the most ridiculous costumes he had ever seen and matching masks.

He quickly sent back a short reply. 'What? Do I even want to know? You are such a dork.'

A few seconds later his phone buzzed again. 'Come on, you know you love it.'

Kurt bit his lip as his hand hovering over his screen, unsure if he should send what had run through his mind. Deciding "what the hell," he quickly wrote and sent his message before he changed his mind. 'No, but I do love you.'

It didn't take long for Blaine to respond with a few short words. 'I love you too.'

Smiling, Kurt put down his phone and returned to work.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, so I decided to keep a lot of this episode the same but delve a little into how Blaine had been feeling so him considering transferring (again? really Glee?) would make sense considering he and Kurt haven't 'broken up'.

And the little Kurt scene at the end has been in my head for a looong time as a missed opportunity from Glee, and I also wanted them to acknowledge that despite their strange relationship status they still love each other (and by Kurt telling Blaine first it answered all the questions Blaine had earlier).

Reviews are always welcome!


	5. Thanksgiving

**Thanksgiving**

It had started simple enough – a nice dinner with Rachel and Brody (not that he was going to even _touch_ that turkey after witnessing Rachel and Brody's… preparation technique) and now here they were with their apartment filled with people he had never met before, music blaring as said people turned their living room into a makeshift dance floor.

Kurt supposed it was his fault really; he _had_ told Isabelle that she could invite a few friends – they clearly just had a different idea of how much was a few. And the party appeared to be a success, which was a good thing for Kurt career wise – like many businesses, in the fashion world it was often a case of not what you know but who you know, and schmoozing with friends of Isabelle's was definitely racking up the points for him. Everyone looked like they were having fun – Isabelle was laughing with a small group of friends, Rachel was practically seated on Brody's lap and Kurt had certainly been enjoying the party so far.

But as Kurt leaned against the kitchen cupboards in his game of people watching, he couldn't help but think that while it was a good party, it was a lousy Thanksgiving. Like he had told Rachel earlier, he missed his Dad, and for him Thanksgiving (like Christmas) had always been a time to be with family and the people you loved. He hadn't told Rachel, but his dad had offered to pay for Kurt to fly back to Lima so that he could spend the holiday with them, but while he had been sorely tempted, Kurt was stubborn and didn't want to rely on his father's charity. (Although he didn't tell Burt that – he knew Burt would have told him that he was being silly and that letting Kurt be with his family wasn't charity.)

Besides, Rachel wasn't going home either and he hadn't wanted her to be lonely, and the idea of spending his first New York Thanksgiving with his best friend had been nice. Plus, he knew that she was still a bit sore over Finn and Brody – her spiel about neither of them needing men in their lives kind of gave him that impression, although she seemed to have forgotten that Blaine was still technically his boyfriend. But now, watching Rachel happily flirt with one of the men she had earlier proclaimed not to need in her life, he was hit with a sudden pang of loneliness, and for the first time wished that he had taken up his dad's offer.

He could imagine that if Sectionals wasn't on right now his Dad, Carol and Finn would be sitting down for a real Thanksgiving dinner with a turkey that hadn't been manhandled. And maybe if he wasn't doing anything with his parents, he could have invited Blaine to join them as well.

At the thought of Blaine the loneliness that Kurt was feeling now felt like a punch in the gut and for the first time since he had moved to New York, Kurt realised that he was homesick – and not just a slight 'oh I kinda miss the coffee at the Lima Bean' pang, but an overwhelming 'God what am I doing here, I want to go back home' sensation that made it difficult for Kurt to breathe. He missed his Dad, he missed Carol and Finn, and oh my _God_ did he miss Blaine. Yes, it was only two weeks since he last saw him in person, plus they texted often and talked every now and then, but it wasn't the same as having Blaine's arms around him, or lying next to him on one of their beds, listening to him breathe and feeling his heartbeat underneath him as they lay entangled together. For over a year he had seen Blaine every day, whether it be at school on the weekdays or Jersey Shore marathons on the weekends, and up until now he had been so busy with work that he hadn't realised how much he missed his boyfriend – and knowing that Blaine hadn't had these distractions to keep him occupied he now knew what led Blaine to suggest their break.

Kurt remembered what Rachel had said that night weeks ago in Lima when she said that it was no longer her home. Kurt now realised that while he loved Rachel, and he _loved_ New York, it would never feel 100% like home until the day that Blaine joined him. Ever since Nationals in his junior year Kurt had planned his future around New York - where he'd like to live, his career and eventually where he'd like to get married and maybe raise kids. And while some things would change, for the longest time the one thing that remained constant in his visions of the future would be the presence of Blaine - hell, in the past year alone, the majority of his plans for the future had been planned _with_ Blaine, the two of them bantering back and forth and ultimately compromising on what they wanted for their future _together _(Kurt wanted to live in the city, Blaine wasn't a fan of forever living in such a cramped space - in the end they had decided to live in the city until they decided to have kids to which they would then move to the suburbs). Pretty much from the beginning Kurt's New York plans had always been 'Kurt and Blaine in New York', so just 'Kurt in New York' felt a little bit hollow to him, and while he was certainly going to make the most of his life here (he was in New York after all - there was no way he was shutting himself away for a year, no mater how much he missed Blaine), a part of him still felt like he couldn't completely move on with his life until the day he could share it with Blaine. And no matter how many times Rachel insisted that going back to Lima was preventing them from moving forwards, Kurt could never truly believe that going back to visit the people he loved was somehow 'going backwards'.

Making sure that no eyes were on him, Kurt crept away from the party and climbed out onto the fire escape. It wasn't until he heard Blaine's answering "hello?" through the speaker that he realised that he had called him.

Sucking in a breath, he tried to plaster on a smile. "Hey, can you hear me? It's kind of loud out here."

Kurt heard faint footsteps and knew that Blaine was moving away to somewhere more private. "Um, yeah, I can hear you."

Kurt suddenly remembered that at this moment Blaine would be at Sectionals, and his heart flipped a little at the fact that Blaine had still picked up the phone. "Have you guys performed yet?"

"No, not yet. Is everything okay?"

Damn him for knowing Kurt so well. Damn him for always being able to tell when Kurt was upset. And damn him for being in Lima instead of New York.

Kurt choked back a sob. "No, it's not."

"Oh Kurt, honey, what's wrong?"

At the endearment, even when they weren't 'technically' together, the tears began falling fast down Kurt's cheeks as he started to ramble.

"It's just… it's Thanksgiving. It's Thanksgiving and we're having a party, and while it's a good party it's not what Thanksgiving should be about, and I should be with my family in Lima, and with _you_ and God, I just miss you so much and I want to go home."

"Kurt…" With that one word Kurt knew that Blaine was also trying to hold back his tears as well. He knew that Blaine hated it when Kurt got upset and it would often make Blaine feel upset in the process. "Kurt, I miss you too, so much. I wish I could be there with you, try and make you feel better."

"Just talking with you is making me feel a little better." Kurt gave a watery laugh. "I must look so pathetic right now, sitting out here alone while there's a party going on, crying my eyes out on the phone."

"Hey, you're not pathetic, and don't you dare listen to anyone who would suggest otherwise. It's perfectly understandable for you to be upset right now – you've been living in New York for months now, it's only reasonable that you are starting to feel a little homesick."

"I need to see you," Kurt blurted. "Not now obviously, I'm here and you're about to go perform, but at Christmas. I want to discuss this whole 'break' thing we're on, because I think I'm finally getting a grip on things and I figure by Christmas I'll have been here and at Vogue long enough that everything's all sorted and I just miss having you as my boyfriend. And if it's cold enough maybe we can go ice skating and then get a hot chocolate at the Lima Bean just like old times."

Kurt could practically hear Blaine's smile through the phone. "So we're really going to see each other at Christmas?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah." There was silence between them, but it wasn't awkward – it was comfortable, just them drinking in the fact that the other was on the opposite line and knowing that in a month they would be seeing each other again. "Well, don't let any of those hideous Warblers win, alright? Break a leg… happy Thanksgiving."

"Happy Thanksgiving. Kurt, I love you so much."

Kurt smiled, a genuine one this time, if not a little teary. "I love you too."

Wiping the tears off his face as best as he could while he hung up, Kurt crawled through the window to join the party once again. Straightening up he saw Isabelle turn the corner, concern flooding her face when she noticed his red-rimmed eyes and slightly tear stained cheeks. Once again proving to be perhaps the best boss in the world, she strode forward without a word and wrapped Kurt up in a warm hug.

Kurt held her tightly, accepting the comfort gladly. He recalled his conversation with Blaine and his heart felt just that little bit lighter. Things were starting to look up, hope flowing through him at the thought of the talk they would be having in a month's time.

He couldn't wait for Christmas.


	6. Swan Song

**A/N: **Okay, so I haven't actually changed anything with this episode because I felt that every Kurt and Blaine scene could very well still have happened if they were still together (and didn't butcher their characters either). However, I have had the idea for this little add on scene for a while, so imagine that this scene picks up at the end of the ep.

* * *

**Swan Song**

Blaine placed his bag by his desk and turned on his laptop before collapsing on his bed. He had so much homework to do, but he was absolutely exhausted – he had just finished an hour long training session with the Cheerio's where Coach Sylvester insisted they spend half of that time curled up like a pretzel while balancing balls to "improve their flexibility and concentration". Blaine had always prided himself on being reasonably flexible – regular yoga classes with Kurt in the past year had certainly helped with that – but that session had completely wiped him out. He had muscles hurting that he didn't even know he even _had_.

A faint ringing sound coming from his desk made him realise that he had an incoming call – he had set up Skype when Kurt had first moved to New York so that it automatically logged in on start up. Now he was cursing it because every muscle _hurt_ and he really didn't want to move.

After struggling to sit up and actually get his laptop he was glad he had made the effort when he saw the notification on his screen telling him that it was Kurt calling. A wide smile spread over his face – ever since their talk on Thanksgiving where Kurt had pretty much stated his intention on them getting back together over Christmas he had been both floating on cloud nine and anxious for Christmas to arrive quickly.

"Why hello there," Blaine grinned once he answered the call, falling back on his bed with the laptop still in his hands, and he swore his heart skipped a beat at the large smile plastered on Kurt's face. He seemed to be buzzing with excitement, but before he could ask what was up, Kurt beat him to the punch.

"I got in!"

Blaine frowned. "You got in? You got in wha-AT!" Blaine quickly realised what Kurt was talking about. "NYADA? You got into NYADA?"

Kurt nodded so emphatically it looked like his head was going to bounce off his neck. "I got my letter today. I got in! Can you believe it, I actually got in!"

"Of course I believe it Kurt, you're a fantastic performer. I still don't understand why you didn't get in the first time. I am so proud of you!"

"Thanks. I mean, I know you are, but it's always nice to hear you say it. You're the first one I've told – besides Rachel of course, she came in and saw me reading the letter – so I still need to call my Dad and let him know but I just had to call you first and let you know."

He didn't think it was even possible, but Blaine's smile grew even wider – his cheeks were starting to hurt actually, but he didn't care. "So what are you going to do now? Are you going to quit Vogue?"

Kurt's smile dropped slightly. "Oh, I hadn't actually thought about that. I don't know – I love it there, but Broadway is my dream, you know? But now I'm a college student my funds are going to be pretty zapped so I'm going to need money – maybe I can talk to Isabelle, somehow juggle the two? Oh, I don't know, I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to take a moment to bask I my success."

"Well feel free to bask away, you deserve it."

"Thanks. I just – wait, what is that?"

Blaine frowned as Kurt squinted his eyes and moved closer to the screen as if he was looking for something. "What's what?"

"Is that… Blaine Anderson, are you wearing a _Cheerio's_ uniform?"

Blaine glanced down at what he was wearing, quickly realised that he hadn't changed after training that afternoon and that he was indeed still wearing the red and white uniform.

"Um… maybe?"

Kurt threw back his head and let out a loud shriek of laughter and Blaine smiled fondly – that laugh had to be one of his most favourite sounds in the world.

When Kurt had managed to settle down (mostly) to soft little snickers and snorts he began speaking again. "Okay, so clearly I have missed something. When did this happen? _How _did this happen?"

So Blaine quickly explained everything that had happened since Sectionals – how they all felt lost now that Regionals was out, how they all wanted to compete in _something _which ultimately led to Tina and Blaine joining the Cheerio's.

"Now that we've all decided to stick with glee most of the guys have already quit the other clubs. Tina has already handed in her uniform, but I felt bad about giving up on a project, but now I'm thinking I might have to because I am just so _sore_ Kurt!"

"Oh, poor baby," Kurt said sympathetically, but he still let loose another little snicker, so Blaine threw him a mock glare. "Go on and stand up for me would you? And turn around; let me see properly."

Positioning the laptop on the bed so the camera would have a decent angle and exaggerating a groan as his tired muscles got him off of the bed (to which Kurt snickered again, that _bastard_), Blaine raised his arms and spun in a slow circle. "Happy now?" he asked as he collapsed back onto the bed, pulling the laptop towards him.

"Hmmm, maybe you should stay with the uniform. I've always found it completely non-flattering, but you make it look good."

"Why Kurt Hummel," Blaine teased. Were they flirting? It sounded like they were flirting, so he thought he'd play along. "Do you have a thing for cheerleader uniforms?"

"Nooo, but I like the look of you in one." Oh yeah, they were definitely flirting. "Did I ever tell you that I used to be a cheerleader?"

Blaine perked up at that. "How have I never known this?"

Kurt shrugged. "It happened the year before I met you. No biggy – I just helped them win a Nationals trophy, that's all. But the lifestyle wasn't really for me – and like I said, I wasn't a fan of the uniform, so I quit afterwards."

"Geez Kurt, you should have told me – that would have been perfect to put on your NYADA application when you were stressing about a lack of extracurriculars."

Kurt looked pensive. "Huh, I never thought about that. Oh well, it doesn't matter now – I got in any way!" Kurt was bouncing around in the screen, his excitement back in full force. He bit his lip as his eyes flicked to the lower corner of the screen and realised the time. "Speaking of, I better go, I still need to call my Dad and tell him the news."

"Sure thing. And congratulations again Kurt – I always knew you could do it."

"Thanks. Oh and Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Before you quit the Cheerio's, you need to take a photo of you in the uniform. That's a memory that needs to be saved."

Kurt grinned cheekily, and this time it was Blaine's turn to throw his head back in laughter. "I'll think about it," he replied cheekily. "Good night Kurt. I love you."

"I love you too."

Blaine closed the laptop as Kurt disconnected, completely forgetting the reason he had turned it on in the first place and lay back amongst his pillows. He reached in between them and grabbed Margaret Thatcher Dog from where she was squeezed in amongst them and hugged her to his chest. Their conversation had left him feeling all floaty and he couldn't stop the smile on his face even if he wanted to.

He couldn't wait for Christmas.


	7. Glee, Actually

**Glee, Actually**

Kurt walked with the flow of holiday traffic into the Arrivals area of the airport, keeping his suitcase close behind him so that it didn't trip up anyone. The airport in Ohio was certainly not as busy as in New York (hello, it was Ohio after all) but there was still more people than usual with it being Christmas Eve, as people from around the country headed home for the holidays, Kurt among them.

He would pause after every few strides to bounce up on his toes, his head whipping from side to side as he tried to see over everyone's heads. A wide smile quickly graced his features when he finally spotted Burt and Carol, similar beaming smiles on their faces.

Rushing forward, Kurt released his suitcase at the last possible moment before enveloping his father in a warm bear hug. He loved his father's hugs – he always felt so warm, safe and loved.

"Ah, I missed you kid," Burt rumbled into Kurt's hair.

"I missed you too," Kurt replied, before pulling away and wrapping Carol up in a hug as well. "Both of you, so much."

"The feeling's mutual honey," Carol said, pulling back and gazing at Kurt with that motherly look Kurt loved about his stepmother. "We're so glad you decided to join us for Christmas."

"Yeah well, I didn't exactly have a choice, did I?" Kurt joked. After being accepted into NYADA Kurt had quickly realised that he needed to save a lot of his money ready for the new semester, especially as a busy class schedule meant that he would be earning less (Isabelle had graciously allowed Kurt to stay at Vogue part time, to which he was eternally grateful – it would be nice to be earning money doing something he actually enjoyed rather than waiting tables like a lot of other college students). When Kurt realised this meant he wouldn't be able to afford flights back home, he was resigned to spending Christmas in New York alone when Rachel had handed over a plane ticket to Ohio.

"_Your Dad asked me to give this to you. He figured if he offered to pay for the ticket like at Thanksgiving you would be all noble and decline again, so this time he figured he would just buy the ticket so you would have no chance to refuse."_

Burt shrugged. "Look, there was no way I was going to have my family separated for Christmas. Family's important, and you kids are growing up and getting your own lives – who knows how many more chances we'll have to get all of us together?"

Kurt happily linked arms with Carol as the three walked out of the airport and to the car, Kurt complimenting Carol on what she was wearing and ultimately discussing future shopping trips to add to it.

Kurt was still engrossed in conversation on the drive home that it took him a while to realise that they weren't heading towards the house.

"Uh, Dad, where exactly are we going? The turnoff to get to our neighbourhood was back there."

"I know, but I have a little surprise for you first." Burt smiled at Kurt in the reflection of the rear view mirror and a few minutes later Kurt recognised the carpark they were pulling into. A wide smile quickly formed when he spotted a familiar green station wagon parked in one of the bays with a _very_ familiar figure leaning against it.

"Have fun," Burt said as he stopped the car, and within seconds Kurt had flung himself out of the door with a hurried "Bye!"

"Hi," Blaine breathed as Kurt approached, his warm breath forming a visible puff of steam in front of his face.

"Hi," Kurt replied, his cheeks starting to ache from how hard he was smiling.

Blaine held up two pairs of ice skates. "So I believed you wanted to go ice skating? Your Dad didn't want us to miss out on our Christmas tradition."

"Our Christmas duet."

Blaine nodded and handed over a pair of skates. It didn't take long for them to lace up before Blaine led them out onto the ice. There weren't very many people, which Kurt was grateful for as he wasn't the most graceful skater (and this had been his idea damn it, what an idiot) so there was less chance of him crashing into someone else and less people for him to make a fool of himself. Not that Blaine would have let him – as the pair began effortlessly harmonising a rendition of 'White Christmas', Blaine remained close by at all times, a hand reaching out now and then to steady him whenever he wobbled. Kurt couldn't find it in him to be jealous of how smoothly Blaine glided across the ice, not when he had Blaine's hand on his elbow, a radiant smile directed towards him. He didn't know how long they stayed out on the ice; all he cared about as they finally changed back into their shoes was that this had been the most fun he'd had in a long time.

"So what now?" Kurt asked, rubbing his chilly hands together.

"Hot chocolate at the Lima Bean, like we planned," Blaine said, opening the passenger side door of his car for Kurt. "And then we can talk."

* * *

Kurt breathed in the familiar warmth and smell of fresh coffee as he and Blaine entered the Lima Bean. Being Christmas Eve, it wasn't too busy so it didn't take long for them to order their hot chocolates and sit at one of their regular tables, warming their hands as they took small sips. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just drinking and watching each other with small smiles. It was so very familiar, and so very _them_, being back here in what they often thought of as 'their spot'.

"So," Kurt started.

"So," Blaine mimicked. "You wanted us to talk at Christmas. About us."

"I did." Kurt took another small sip, feeling the chocolate slowly travel down his throat, warming his belly. "When I called you at Thanksgiving, I meant every word that I said. I have missed you _so_ much, and with me finally settling in at work I felt that we could try a long distance relationship again without the fallout from before. And then I got my NYADA letter…"

Kurt watched as the hope in Blaine's eyes flickered and his face fell. It was a very subtle movement, but Kurt was watching his face intently and saw it straight away.

Blaine nodded, his eyes focusing the hot chocolate he was cradling with both hands. "And now that you have NYADA on top of Vogue you want to wait a bit longer."

Kurt reached over to remove one of Blaine's hands from his cup and covered it with his own. "Blaine," Kurt said softly and waited for Blaine to look up into his eyes before continuing. "No, I don't." Kurt smiled as Blaine's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I know it's going to be difficult adjusting with this new development, and I'm not saying we throw ourselves into this at full speed and ultimately end up with similar results to last time. I'm thinking maybe one definite scheduled Skype date night a week, more if we can fit it in, but we go back into this realising that I'm going to be busy and I may miss calls, but it's not because I mean to and it certainly doesn't mean it's because I care about you any less."

Kurt began stroking his thumb over the back of Blaine's hand as the hope returned to his boyfriend's eyes. "I love you Blaine; this break that we've been on hasn't changed that. And let's face it; we haven't been doing very well as 'just friends' anyway. These past few weeks we've still been boyfriends in all but name – we talk to each other whenever we can, we flirt with each other, we tell each other 'I love you'. I want to be able to call you my boyfriend again, instead of my 'sort of on a break but not broken up with boyfriend' – it's quite the mouthful and it just leaves people confused." Kurt smiled as Blaine chuckled softly. "I know it's going to be difficult, but I know we can make this work – you still want to give this a shot right?"

Blaine quickly let go of his hot chocolate to cover both of their hands with his own when he saw the hesitant look in Kurt's eyes. "I really, _really_ do Kurt. I love you so much. We'll find a way to make this work – I know it."

Kurt tightened his grip on Blaine's hands briefly before releasing them and grabbing his hot chocolate again, Blaine doing the same. "One more thing; about the… physical side of our relationship. Now that I'm going to be at NYADA, money will probably be a bit tighter so I won't be able to come and visit very often."

"That's okay Kurt, I understand, we don't need – "

Kurt raised a hand to interrupt, so Blaine cut himself off. "Just wait a second, 'kay? Like I said, we won't be able to see each other very often, and it's going to suck not being able to touch or kiss each or other or do… other things, and let's face it, we're teenage boys so it's going to be really hard for us, so I was thinking…" Kurt paused, biting his lip as he glanced around to see if there was anyone within earshot while Blaine raised his mug to his lips. "I was thinking that maybe to help with our… urges, we could maybe… maybe try phone sex?"

Blaine's eyes widened dramatically and he started to choke on the hot chocolate he had been in the process of swallowing, his eyes watering slightly as he coughed loudly. He recovered quickly when Kurt stammered out, "Unless you don't want to that is. It was just a suggestion."

"No, no, I mean, I want to, I really do. You really want to?" At Kurt's nod, Blaine grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd be willing to give it a shot. Absolutely. Just… maybe next time, try not to spring sexy ideas on me when I have a mouthful of hot chocolate – I think you nearly killed me."

Kurt grinned back. "Deal."

* * *

The Hudson-Hummel house felt very festive – the smell of Christmas dinner was wafting through the house, carols playing softly in the background, garlands were hanging from the ceiling and the Christmas tree stood glittering in the corner. The tree wasn't quite finished though – Blaine was currently watching contently on the couch as Kurt hung his mother's decorations that Burt had left for him; it was apparently a Hummel tradition that Kurt be the one to hang those ornaments.

"And now it's time for another Christmas tradition before dinner is ready," Burt said as he strolled into the living area with Carol in tow – Finn was already sprawled on one of the arm chairs. It was just the five of them in the house – Sam had returned home to spend Christmas with his family.

"Ooh," Kurt exclaimed. "Dad, I want your present to be the one from me. Where did you put my suitcase?"

"It's in your old room," Burt answered and Kurt quickly clambered up the stairs. Burt turned towards Blaine. "I'm not sure if Kurt has told you, but it's a tradition of ours that we each get to open one present on Christmas Eve."

Blaine nodded. "Kurt's told me – I think it's very cool how your family has all these little traditions. I think it makes Christmas that little bit more special." Blaine's family never really did anything like that – presents on Christmas morning and dinner with his grandparents was probably the extent of any tradition they shared. At the moment, Blaine's parents were attending a Christmas party at his dad's work, so the Hummel's had insisted he spend Christmas Eve with them (not that they required much insistence – Blaine wanted to spend as much time with Kurt as possible before he flew back to New York).

"So Blaine, you're graduating in a few months. What are your plans for next year?" Carol asked.

"Well, I've already discussed this with Kurt, but I was hoping to get into NYADA. I mean I've applied to a few others as a safety net – the music program at NYU and Julliard, but I'm really hoping for NYADA."

"So either way it's gonna be New York huh?" Burt asked as he settled himself down on the floor by the tree, Carol joining him.

Blaine smiled at the implied question. "I've always wanted to go to New York, or maybe California because my brother was there. But ever since Kurt mentioned moving to New York… well let's just say there was no way I wasn't going to join him, no question about it."

"No question about what?" Kurt asked as he bounced back into the room, handing a package over to Burt. "It's cheesy, but I thought you'd like it."

"Screw cheesy," Burt laughed as he opened it, pulling out a NYADA cap and immediately placing it on his head. "I love it. In Mexico they'd call me Senor Queso. "

Kurt grinned as Burt began handing out presents, everyone seated on the floor with the exception of Blaine who was still seated on the couch, Kurt leaning comfortably back on his legs. Carol received a pair of earrings from Burt, ("oh Burt, they're _beautiful_") Finn an Xbox game that he had been pining for from Burt and Carol ("awesome, now I can play with Puck online!") and Kurt a scarf from Finn.

"It's gorgeous," Kurt said, quickly wrapping it around his neck before giving Finn a sly smile. "So who picked it out for you?"

Finn was about to protest before ducking his head sheepishly. "I may have had Blaine's help."

Kurt leaned forward and hugged Finn warmly. "I love it, thank you." When he returned to his position against Blaine he tilted his head back to look at Blaine as he stroked a hand up and down Blaine's calf. "And thanks for helping him."

"You're welcome" Blaine replied before being distracted by a present Burt was holding out towards him. "What…?"

"You didn't think you missed out did you? Like I said, everyone in this family gets to open a present on Christmas Eve."

Blaine felt his heart swell at what Burt was saying before accepting the gift. He smiled as he pulled out a pair of music books – one of Broadway songs and the other was from movie musicals.

"Kurt suggested them," Burt said. "I figure they'll come in handy for when you get into NYADA."

"They will. Thank you so much – they're wonderful."

"Well, we should probably set the table – dinner should be almost ready," Carol said, standing up and pulling Burt with her.

Blaine helped Kurt to his feet and turned to follow Carol so he could help when Kurt's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Before we go, I want to give you your present from me," Kurt said, pulling him over to the hall so they had a bit of privacy. He pulled out a small gift from his pocket and handed it over, biting his lip shyly (and god, did Blaine want to bite it himself whenever he did that, but no, the parents were in the next room). Tearing open the wrapping to reveal a flat jewellery box, he gasped as he opened it

Inside were what appeared to be two matching pendants in the shape of puzzle pieces, both attached to separate chains.

"It's kind of a present for both you and me," Kurt explained. "You have one and I have one – that way we'll always carry a piece close to our heart. I had them engraved too."

Blaine turned one of the pieces over to see two words engraved on the metal, one on top of the other: _my puzzle_. At Blaine's small frown, Kurt whispered, "Join them together."

Clicking the two pieces together he turned them over again to see the full inscription: _my missing puzzle piece_. "You know, just like our song," Kurt added.

Blaine felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he fought to keep them from spilling over. "Our song," he whispered. He loved that they had a song. He looked up into Kurt's eyes. "I love it, it's perfect. Help me put it on?"

Kurt nodded and walked behind Blaine, clasping the necklace around his boyfriend's neck before Blaine did the same for him. The two stood there watching each other with matching dopey grins before Blaine realised he was forgetting something. "Oh, and I have something for you too." Blaine quickly fished into his own pocket and pulled out an envelope. "It's not as beautiful as your gift, but I hope you like it, and it's kind of for the both of us as well."

Blaine watched as Kurt tore open the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper, a frown creasing his forehead as he registered what he was reading. "Blaine, what…?"

"They're my dad's frequent flyer miles," Blaine explained. "He has an absolute ton of them from all the business trips he goes on and he never uses them so I asked if I could have them for Christmas." Blaine saw one of Kurt's eyebrows arch in disbelief and asked "what?"

"I'm just surprised," Kurt said. "I was always under the impression that your dad didn't like me."

"It's not that he doesn't like you – as a person, I think he thinks you're pretty cool, especially after he found out you were a mechanic. It's just that…"

"He wishes I was a girl."

"Pretty much. But I think the fact that he was willing to give me these is a step forward. Although it may have taken a bit of convincing."

"What type of convincing exactly?"

"I _may_ have suggested that with or without them I was going to visit you in New York anyway, except that way I'd have to use up my savings. I think he'd prefer it if I actually had some money saved when I go to college so he gave me the miles."

Kurt grinned. "How devious of you. I approve."

Blaine grinned back. "Why thank you. Anyway, I figure that we can split my dad's miles between us – I mean, there's not enough that we can see each other every weekend, but we'll be able to see each other for more than once every couple of months and we won't have to worry about trying to save the money so we can see each other." When Kurt still hadn't said anything or torn his eyes from the paper, Blaine asked nervously, "Um, is that okay?"

"Blaine, this is the best present I could have ever gotten," Kurt said, throwing his arms around Blaine's neck and holding him tightly.

Blaine smiled and nuzzled his nose into Kurt's neck as they simply held each other. As they pulled away, Blaine happened to glance upwards and a slow smile began to form.

"You know, this is our second Christmas together as a couple and I just realised that there is one Christmas tradition that we have never done. And considering today has been all about traditions, I think it would be a crime if we didn't participate."

At Kurt's questioning look, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hands and walked him backwards a few steps before simply looking up. Kurt followed his gaze and his mouth opened into a round 'o' of understanding.

"You know," Kurt said slyly, "if you wanted to kiss me, you could have just asked. You don't need mistletoe."

"I know," Blaine shrugged. "But it's tradition."

"Well if it's tradition," Kurt murmured as he closed the distance between them, pressing their lips firmly together before slipping his tongue inside Blaine's mouth.

Blaine moaned softly as he wrapped his arms tightly around Kurt and pulled him closer. It had been over a month since he had last kissed Kurt, and somehow if felt even better than he remembered.

A throat clearing interrupted them before they got too carried away. They turned towards the noise, their arms still tightly wound around each other. Burt stood watching them, an amused smile on his lips.

"When you two are ready, dinner is on the table."

"And hurry up, I'm hungry!" Finn shouted from the direction of the dining room.

"Okay, we'll be right there," Kurt said, and Burt disappeared towards the dining room. Kurt placed another quick peck to Blaine's lips. "Merry Christmas Blaine."

Blaine smiled. "Merry Christmas Kurt," and slipped his hand in Kurt's as they joined the rest of the family to celebrate the holiday.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, prepare for a loooong authors note.

So this is the first episode that I pretty much did a complete rewrite, for several reasons. Firstly, I thought that it was ridiculous for the writers to suggest that two men who valued family as much as Kurt and Burt would be happy for their family to be separated at Christmas. Plus, I love Carol, and there's never enough Kurt/Finn brotherly interaction, so I switched the setting to Lima. (Plus the reason that Kurt couldn't go home was because he couldn't afford it, but then Burt paid to fly both him and Blaine to go to New York – it would have been just as easy for Burt to pay for Kurt to fly home.)

Secondly, in the Thanksgiving ep on the show, Kurt said that at Christmas he and Blaine would have a heart-to-heart – that never happened. They gave Burt cancer as a 'reason' for Kurt to forgive Blaine, even though Kurt was on his way there naturally anyway, and pretty much that one line about Blaine looking out for Burt no matter what was the extent of their 'heart-to-heart'. Nuh uh, not good enough, hence the chat in the Lima Bean that I put in. Oh, and of course no cancer for Burt – unlike the writers, I don't find Kurt constantly crying a turn on, so I wasn't going to put in something that a) was put in just for more Kurt tears (because he simply just _hasn't _cried enough); and b) is unlikely to ever be mentioned again on the show.

And yes, I made Kurt stay at Vogue. After weeks of that being Kurt's main storyline, I think it's ridiculous that it was just dropped, never to be heard from again. What the hell happened to that – did Kurt quit to go to NYADA? If so, how the hell is he going to afford to live with no job? (A question I ask of Rachel, but considering how much her dad's spoil her I can see them paying her way – I can't see Burt doing that for Kurt.) I don't know if it's realistic or not (but hey, it's Glee, realism isn't their forte) but I kept Vogue around as a part time thing for Kurt so that he has a way to pay for his life in New York and so that all that work going into that storyline didn't go completely to waste. Plus considering how much he loved his job, I think it would have made a good conflict for Kurt later down the line if he had to choose between Vogue and NYADA (yes Glee writers, it is possible for there to be conflict for a character that isn't relationship based or character assassinating! Yes, I'm very bitter at the writers).

Oh, and while not the most romantic gift in the world, I've had the idea of Blaine giving Kurt his dad's miles in my head for a long time. I figure that seeing each other regularly is something they both want more than anything, and this way they can do it realistically considering they are both students and should not be able to afford flying back and forth all the time. Plus, I got to sneak in a little more info on Blaine's family situation – something that we're still all waiting for in the show.


	8. Sadie Hawkins

Disclaimer: As usual, still not mine. Be warned for mentions of bullying and violence below if that triggers you.

* * *

**Sadie Hawkins**

Kurt strolled into his apartment with a sigh and headed towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water. He had a few hours to kill before his next class and he just needed some alone time so he could think. He had just watched Adam's Apples performance of 'Baby Got Back' and he was torn. He had to admit, he found the Apples to be rather… quaint? The song choice was certainly odd, but they kind of made it work in a sort of quirky style that had him stifling his giggles throughout the performance. And now he wasn't sure if he wanted to join or not – he wasn't sure if they were really his style, but he _did_ want to make friends…

His musings were interrupted by his ring tone and he smiled when he saw Blaine's number flash on the screen.

"Hey honey, shouldn't you be in class right now?" he teased.

"I have a break at the moment," Blaine replied, and Kurt thought he heard something strange in his voice. "We haven't really had many chances to talk since you started at NYADA, so I thought I'd try and catch you now – this isn't a bad time is it?"

"No, I'm actually on a break too. I've just come home to have a breather before I go back." Kurt grabbed his glass of water and headed towards his room so he could get comfortable on his bed.

"How is NYADA? Made any friends yet?"

"Uh, not quite, but I think I might be on my way there. There's this show choir group here called the Adam's Apples – they're no New Directions and their leader, Adam, seems nice enough and has asked me to join."

"Wait, so this guy named the glee club after himself? Isn't that a bit… I don't know, pretentious?"

"Maybe a little," Kurt shrugged. "Either way, I'm not sure if I should join – Rachel said they're kind of at the bottom of NYADA social ladder and warned me to stay away for the sake of my career."

Kurt could practically hear Blaine's frown over the line. "I'm sorry, but is this Rachel _Berry_ we're talking about here? Since when has she cared about what was and wasn't cool, particularly when it comes to performing?"

"I don't know," Kurt said. "Sometimes I wonder if I should have given her that makeover – it's like she's turned into a different person. I mean, I still love her, but I kind of miss the old Rachel sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Blaine soothed. "I still think it was a bit unfair of her to abandon you during your first week at a new school, especially after all you've done for her to help her fit in in New York – it always helps to have a friendly face when you need it most you know?"

"Yeah I know, but I get it, she's got her own life to live and everything's going well for her and I'm a big boy, I can take care of myself."

Kurt grinned, but it quickly faded at Blaine's soft "I know" over the line, his voice holding that weird quality to it again.

"Hey, is everything okay? You sound funny."

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, and Kurt waited patiently.

"We're having a Sadie Hawkins dance at school," Blaine said quietly.

Kurt immediately sat up from where he was lounged on his bed and clutched the phone closer to his ear.

"A Sadie… oh _Blaine_. How are… are you okay?"

Kurt could hear Blaine's shuddering breath over the line and he so desperately wished he could reach through it to wrap him up in his arms. "Not really. I just heard the name Sadie Hawkins, and my entire body just went cold. Which is stupid, because it's not like I haven't been to dances since then – I've been to two proms with you _and_ danced with you in front of a large group that is mainly homophobic, it's just…"

"It's Sadie Hawkins," Kurt said with understanding, knowing exactly how his boyfriend felt over the subject. "You're not being silly Blaine – you went through something incredibly traumatic at a very vulnerable stage of your life. You have every right to be feeling this way. Hell, I'm sure most people who had been badly beaten up not long after coming out would have run straight back into the closet, so don't you dare go and think that you're a coward if you decide not to go. You are one of the bravest people I've ever met, okay?"

"Thanks Kurt. But the thing is Tina asked me to go, as her date. She asked me in front of the whole Glee club after singing a song about it, and I just felt so _bad_ saying no to her after she put herself out there like that."

Kurt heard a rustle of clothing and knew that Blaine was sliding down a wall to sink to the floor. Kurt grabbed a pillow and held it close to his chest, wishing it was Blaine instead.

"I know you feel bad about it honey, and it sucks for Tina, but you need to do what's right for you, and if you don't want to go you don't have to." Kurt paused as he thought about how he was going to broach the next subject. "Look, I know you haven't talked about what happened with anyone but me, I _know_ how much you hate talking about it, but maybe… maybe you should tell Tina. It might help to talk to someone else about it, and she's one of your closest friends – she'll completely understand why you said no. I'm not saying you _have_ to tell her, it's completely up to you, but it's just a suggestion."

"Yeah, I'll think about it. I wish you were here with me."

"Me too Blaine, me too."

* * *

Blaine left the empty classroom he had been hiding in while he talked to Kurt, feeling a little better after hearing his voice but his stomach was still churning. Spotting Tina at her locker, he stiffened his resolve and decided to approach her. "Hey Tina, can I talk to you?"

Tina raised an eyebrow. "I hope you're here to apologize for utterly humiliating me in front of everyone."

"I am so sorry that happened Tina, I really am, but I need to explain why I said no."

Tina closed her locker and leaned against it, a look on her face that clearly said 'go on'. Blaine took a deep breath, but then glanced around the hall, noticing the few students still milling around. Grabbing Tina's hand, he led her to the empty classroom he had vacated only minutes before, pulling a chair out for her to sit on then moving in front of her, shifting his feet nervously. After a few moments of silence, he began.

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you I have only ever told Kurt. It's kind of a long story, so just let me finish before you say anything okay?"

Tina looked confused, but nodded anyway.

"Okay, so the summer before my freshman year at high school, I came out to my family. I was barely 14, but I had realised that while all of my guy friends were starting to notice girls, I was starting to notice boys. My brother, Cooper, was fine with it, but my parents… not so much. My mom didn't know what to say and my dad just gave me this _look_ – not of disgust, but disappointment. He'd never looked at me that way before, and our relationship has never really been the same since. So when I started high school, I decided not to tell anyone I was gay – if my own family couldn't accept who I was, then how was a bunch of strangers going to react? So I stayed in the closet.

I wasn't the most popular kid in school, but I did have a lot of friends. There was this one guy, Mitch – he was a sophomore, and he was the only gay kid in the school – well, only openly gay kid. He befriended me, took me under his wing – he never said anything about my sexuality, but I think he always knew. He was so proud of who he was, so much like Kurt actually, and I really admired him – so much so, that about halfway through the school year I realised that I didn't see the point in hiding who I was anymore, so I decided to come out."

Blaine began to wring his hands. "I told my best friend first. He and I had been friends since we were little. I thought he'd be cool with it; I was wrong. When I told him, he just froze up, didn't say a word. When I reached for him to see if he was okay, he shouted 'don't touch me faggot!' before running out of the house. If I thought that was bad, when I got to school the next day I found out he had outed me to all of his friends, meaning it didn't take long for the whole school to know. I went from having a lot of friends to barely a handful."

Blaine laughed wryly. "That's the thing about being able to pass I guess. People always think life is easier for you, but trust me it can be just as hard as not being able to pass. Kurt has been teased for most of his life for being who he is long before he officially came out. Me? No one at my school had suspected I was gay – sure I liked to sing, but I also loved sports, playing video games; all the stereotypical 'guy' stuff. So when I came out it was like all of a sudden all of my guy friends had a personal vendetta against me. They accused me of 'playing it straight' so that I could get close to them, peek on them in the locker rooms, that sort of stuff. And the girls… they didn't necessarily care that I was gay, but because I was suddenly in the bullies' cross hairs they didn't want to be caught in the line of fire so they made themselves scarce too.

"I didn't get bullied physically very much, not like Kurt did. I mean, I did at first, but once I started boxing to defend myself they eased up a bit. Mostly the bullying was all emotional and verbal. They tried excluding me from all the things I enjoyed – sports, school activities, parties. And the names – god the names they used to call me. Not just the usual 'fag', 'queen' or 'fairy', but some that was far worse. 'Bitch' was a common one – 'slut' was also a particular favourite of theirs, despite the fact that I had never even kissed a guy, let alone slept with one. But because I was a guy who liked guys, I was suddenly the school hoar."

Despite her promise, Tina chose this moment to interrupt. "Is that why you made that comment to Sam last year? About not being for sale?"

Blaine huffed out a laugh. "That? That was mainly about me being pissed at Finn and I took it out on the wrong person. But yeah, maybe a little. Look, I have no problem with being sexy, or people using their body whatever way they want – it's their choice and I'm not going to belittle them for that. Sam wasn't ashamed of being a stripper, and I'm not ashamed of him either, but doing that, using your body to sell sex – it's never been for me, and when Sam suggested it, you're right – for a moment all I could hear in the back of my mind was my old school calling me a slut and it triggered a reaction that I'm ashamed of."

Blaine started to pick at his fingernails, avoiding eye contact with Tina. "Anyway, not long after I came out, maybe a month or so, our school had a Sadie Hawkins dance. Everyone knew I was gay, so no girl was going to ask me, but I really wanted to go – just because I was gay, didn't mean that I still couldn't go just like everyone else, so I asked Mitch. I never thought of him as anything other than a friend, but I was gay and I wanted to go with a boy so I asked him. I figured we could have a good time, just like everyone else, and we did – we danced, we laughed, it was fun. I thought everything was okay until we decided to leave and we got to the car park to wait for his dad to pick us up and found these three guys were waiting for us. They didn't like us 'spreading the gay' as they so eloquently put it, so they thought they'd put us in our place. I may have started boxing, but there was no way I could take on three guys at once, and Mitch had no experience in self-defence."

Blaine swallowed thickly and blinked back tears, noticing that Tina was doing the same. "The last thing I remember is one of the guys kicking me while I was on the floor. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in hospital two weeks later. They had to put me in an induced coma while they waiting for the swelling in my brain to go down. I had a broken hand – I remember one guy slamming his foot down on it – broken ribs, which made it really hard to breathe, and a fractured hip which meant it took me a while before I could walk again. I begged my dad not to go back to that school and he agreed – he may not have approved of my being gay, but he still loved me and didn't want to see me get hurt. We looked into Dalton, but by the time I was physically able to go back to school, and with Dalton's standards being so much higher than a public school, I was too far behind, so they suggested I retake my freshman year."

Blaine gave a small shrug. "So that's why I'm still here at 19, stuck in high school instead of being in New York with Kurt." Blaine roughly brushed aside some tears that had slid down his cheeks with the back of his hand. "And you know what the worse, the absolute _worse_ thing is? A part of me is _grateful_ to those bastards that did that to me, because if they had never beaten me up, I never would have gone to Dalton and I never would have met Kurt. How sick is that? What is _wrong_ with me?!"

Tina sprung from her chair and immediately wrapped Blaine up in a hug. Blaine clung to her and buried his face into her neck, his body shaking as he tried to hold back his tears. "Nothing okay? Nothing is wrong with you. I am so, so sorry Blaine."

"I'm sorry too, for saying no when you asked me to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance in front of everyone and embarrassing you –"

"No, no you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about!" Tina interrupted, pulling back and wiping a tear from her own eyes. "I – god, I completely understand. I'm sorry for being so snippy with you while you were trying to deal with all this."

Blaine's lips quirked up in a poor imitation of a smile. "Don't be, you had no idea."

"But Blaine, you have to know, while McKinley has had its bad history with bullying, it _is _getting better; _you_ are helping to make it better. The senior year voted you as class president, so there are a lot of people that don't care that you're gay. And you have lots of friends here – friends who would _never_ let anything like that happen to you again. Look, if you don't want to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance that's fine. But – and I'm not just saying this because I want you to go with me – maybe you should try giving it a shot. You know, face your demons, so you can finally move past it once and for all. I'll be there with you the whole time, so if you ever feel nervous you can just squeeze my hand, and if you really feel like you can't handle it we can leave whenever you want."

Blaine gave a soft, watery smile. "Can I think about it?"

Tina smiled back. "Sure." She glanced at Blaine's red, puffy eyes and tear-streaked face and knew hers probably wasn't much better. "Do you wanna just hang here for a while?"

"Yes please," Blaine said, and the two sank down in chairs side by side, resting their heads against each other as they sought comfort in each other's company.

* * *

Rachel and Kurt strode down the streets of New York, arm in arm, Rachel trying to convince Kurt to join her and Brody in doing whatever they were doing and Kurt assuring her he didn't want to be a third wheel on their date as best as he could while being distracted with thoughts about Blaine and what he must be going through right now.

"You know what? I can't wait until you have someone so that you, me, him and Brody can all go on double dates together. What about that Adam guy you were telling me about – is he cute? Cause from the sound of things I think he likes you!" Rachel poked Kurt in the ribs as she sing-songed the last few words.

"What?" Kurt asked, trying to catch up with what Rachel was saying. "Adam? I guess so, in a kind of hipster way, and no he doesn't like me – not like that anyway."

"I'm pretty sure he does, Kurt, and why shouldn't he? You are a _catch_. He'd be so lucky to have you – you should ask him out. There's nothing like being in love in New York City!"

Kurt stopped in his tracks causing Rachel to let out a quiet yelp as she was suddenly jerked backwards.

"Listen Rachel, he's someone I hope to be friends with and that's _all_, and even if he did like me that way it doesn't matter because in case you've forgotten, I already _am_ in love in New York – with Blaine, remember?"

"I know, and I love Blaine too, you know I do, but you're in New York Kurt! And Blaine is still in Lima. You should be having fun, experiencing all that New York has to offer! I thought that nothing could beat what I had with Finn, that I'd ever be able to move on, but now I'm with Brody I'm so glad I did! I feel like the whole experience has made me a richer person for it, you know? You've only ever been with Blaine – don't you want to see what else is out there?"

Kurt withdrew his arm from Rachel's. "No I don't. Look Rachel, I know you and Brody have what you call this 'mature'" (Kurt raised his hands to form the imaginary quotation marks) "open relationship, which I am still not 100% sure you're doing because it is something you really want, something you're doing because you're still not over Finn or simply because Brody wants to sleep around and you figure it's the only way you can keep him in which case you are worth _so_ more than that, but whatever the reason it's your life, you can do what you want. But do _not_ tell me how to run mine – I love Blaine, I only want Blaine and I don't need to sleep with a hundred guys to realise that. So if having a monogamous relationship with someone I love makes me a shallow, one dimensional person, then screw 3D, thank you very much."

Kurt glanced across the road to see Brody waving at them.

"Your knight in shining armour a-waits," he said, gesturing towards him before turning on his heel and walking away, ignoring Rachel's calls of "Kurt!" echoing behind him.

* * *

"You okay?" Tina asked when Blaine squeezed her hand a little harder than he intended as they entered the winter wonderland that was the Sadie Hawkins dance. "We can still leave if you want."

"No," Blaine said with a smile, relinquishing his tight grip slightly. "I'm good. Well, a little nervous, but so far, so good – I think I'll be okay."

"Good." Tina felt a slight flutter in her stomach as Blaine led her through the decorations; complimenting her on how beautiful everything looked, loosening up more and more with each minute that passed. When Blaine joined the other glee guys to sing 'No Scrubs' she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face as she watched him instantly relax the second he started to perform. The worry that had been clouding his eyes seemed to melt away as he sang and danced with his friends, and against her better judgement, she couldn't help but admire how well the white dress shirt he wore hugged his figure, from his broad shoulders to his tiny waist.

Her smile fell slightly. Why was she feeling this way? Blaine was gay, she _knew_ that, not to mention unavailable. But the way he _looked_, with his warm eyes, his charming smile, and the way he focused on her when she spoke like what she had to say was important (and god that was so nice when she was so often pushed to the background and ignored), how could she not help but fall for him? And she was _so_ falling for him, logic be damned.

After the song had ended Blaine jumped off the stage and headed back towards her, offering his hand with a beaming smile and a suave, "May I have this dance?" that made her heart skip a beat before he pulled her in his arms, the pair giggling as he spun her around the dance floor.

"This is so nice," he told her over the music.

"See, I knew you could end up having fun," Tina replied.

"You were so right," Blaine's smile seemed to grow wider as he took her hands. "I have to say, I love your new attitude these days – it's so empowered."

Tina couldn't look away from his eyes. "I love your… everything. You're perfect."

"Oh Tina Cohen-Chang," Blaine said airily as he dipped her. "Where have you been all my life?"

Without warning, Tina felt like her breath had been taken away. "Right here," she answered, her eyes trained on his full lips, and before she knew it she was slowly leaning towards Blaine when he was suddenly pulled away by Sam raving about something Glee related. "Wait, Blaine and I were just about to –"

"About to what?" Sam asked.

Tina glanced at Blaine's questioning gaze before replying, "keep dancing."

Blaine apologized before running off with Sam, leaving Tina standing alone on the dance floor wandering what the hell had happened to her life.

* * *

"Hey Kurt!"

Kurt turned at the top of staircase to see Adam jog over to him. "Oh, hey Adam."

"I was just thinking about you – I was thinking about this Sondheim mash-up that has the potential to be so epic we could die while singing it. You in?"

"Uh, yeah sure, sounds like fun; what's singing in show choir without an element of danger thrown in huh?"

Adam chuckled. "Wicked. So I was thinking, maybe we could go get a drink and discuss it further. Or you know, just go get a drink."

Kurt sucked in a short breath. "Oh. Look Adam, that sounds nice and I'm flattered, but I have a boyfriend." A look of horror crossed over Kurt's face, the next words out of his mouth spilling out in a rush. "Unless you were just asking me as friends and I've just totally made some clearly wrong assumptions and made a complete ass of myself."

Adam grinned. "Okay, I'm just going to interrupt here. You weren't wrong – yes, I was asking you on a date, and it completely makes sense that someone as sexy and funny as you" (Kurt blushed at this) "would already be taken, and that's fine. I think you're cool though and I'd like us to be friends, if that's alright with you?"

Kurt let out a relieved sigh. "Yes. Friends sound nice."

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so I was one of those people that was absolutely disgusted with this episode. Fans have been asking the writers for years about Sadie Hawkins so that we could learn more about Blaine's back story, and what we get instead is a story about a dance with two brief throwaway lines about Blaine's past and a heavy focus on a girl crushing on a gay boy and a gay boy crushing on a straight boy (so much for friendships without romantic entanglements huh?)

So obviously, I rewrote this episode so that we could get more insight into Blaine, and yes, I am one of those people that believe Blaine is the same age as Kurt and therefore had to repeat a year (although Junior Blaine should ever have happened in the first place). I'm sorry if any of his injuries seem unbelievable or whatnot, but hey, I'm not a doctor.

As for Adam, to be honest I'm not a fan, but I figured I'd keep him in here to help progress Kurt's story (you'll see in upcoming chapters).

Oh, and one last side note - I'm thinking of writing a few one shots from this alternate universe, as there are a few things that I really wanted to write, particularly in upcoming chapters, that just didn't fit in with the flow of the 'episode'. So if there's anything that you may have read and would like a little more back story to it, let me know and I'll see if I can write you a filler!


	9. Naked

Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to update, but my computer decided to play up three weeks ago and I've only just got it back. As the season is drawing to an end, I'll try to get more chapters out a bit quicker (fingers crossed!) So without further ado, here's some more!

Oh, and there is a 'deleted scene' of sorts that I wrote for this called "Naked Truths" that didn't really fit with the flow of the 'episode' so feel free to check it out!

* * *

**Naked**

"Downward dog!" Sam commanded, as the glee guys (minus Artie of course) all followed him into the next yoga position. "And into the half pigeon."

Blaine easily moved into the next position as the other guys groaned with the effort.

"Okay, _how_ are you even doing that?" Jake demanded, looking at where Blaine had twisted his legs up into a perfect lotus position while all the other guys were barely able to fold them.

"Kurt and I used to do yoga all the time to keep in shape, so I'm kind of used to this. I've never been as good as Kurt though – he's so flexible it's unbelievable," Blaine said, a dreamy quality to his voice.

Sam smirked as he peered around the others to look at his friend. "I bet all that bendiness really comes in handy in the bedroom, am I right Blaine?"

Blaine blushed. "Shut up Sam."

Sam only grinned.

"So why are we doing this again? Not all of us need to be bendy enough for kinky gay sex – no offence man," Ryder said as Blaine blushed harder.

"It's 'broga'; yoga for bros." Sam explained. "All about getting in the best possible shape for the calendar."

"Well not everyone here looks like we're on the CW – some of us are more… PBS," Artie complained, folding his arms defensively. "Does the calendar really have to be shirtless?"

"Afraid so dude, but don't worry, in no time we'll all be centrefold ready, thanks to White Chocolate's strip tips."

Blaine should have guessed Sam's cheeky smile would have brought trouble, because the next thing he knew, they were all getting shaving tips and stripping down to shorts so they could get spray tans.

And as the bronzer swept over his face, all he could think was; _'well, Kurt did say I looked good with a little colour."_

* * *

Kurt sleepily stirred his cereal as he fought to stay awake. He swore college was making him lazier – he used to be such an early riser. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and lazily glanced over to where Brody had seated himself next to Kurt at the table, pouring his own cereal into a bowl.

Kurt did a double take and snapped wide awake when he realised that Brody was sitting next to him completely naked. He stared at him in horror, completely struck dumb. It wasn't until Rachel came out with a chirpy 'good morning' and a kiss for Brody that Kurt snapped out of it.

"What?" Rachel asked when Kurt threw her a dirty look.

"Your boyfriend's _bare ass_ is on one of my vintage flea market chairs," Kurt said furiously, jabbing his spoon in Brody's direction for emphasis.

"I'm not ashamed of my body," Brody said, before he and Rachel explained to Kurt how Rachel had been cast in a student art film that required a topless scene.

"Rachel is a serious actress Brody," Kurt said, fixing a firm gaze onto Rachel. "She doesn't do nudity."

"Look, as a performer, that's a question we're all gonna have to face. If you wanna win an Oscar, you have to show your boobs. Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connoly, Kathy Bates."

"I'm pretty sure those women didn't win an Oscar simply because they showed a bit of skin," Kurt said scathingly. He turned to Rachel. "I don't get it Rachel – you used to always say that the only assets you ever needed to display was your talent. A year ago you were all plaid skirts and 'do you think Finn likes me?' I never thought I'd say this, but I almost miss your horrendous animal sweaters – well, I miss the girl who wore them anyway. That girl would have never asked misogynist Ken to move in with you without asking your roommate first, or do porno's – what's happening to you?"

"That girl is moving on from childish things like high school crushes and unrealistic expectations. I'm growing up Kurt – maybe you should try it too."

Kurt bristled at her implication.

"And it's not a porno – it's a good movie," she continued, as she grabbed her jacket to leave. "And I'm going to do it. With or without your support."

* * *

Blaine watched silently for a few moments at Sam sitting in the otherwise empty classroom, staring blankly at a piece of paper. "You ready to write that essay?" Blaine asked.

"No, I'm not," Sam replied, his voice still sounding as dejected as it had the day before when he had spilled to Blaine in the locker room how inadequate he had been feeling as of late.

"Well, I've been doing a little research with some folks that know you really well," Blaine said, pulling his laptop out of his bag. "And they all seem to think you've accomplished quite a bit."

Opening his laptop and hitting play, Blaine watched with Sam as their friends all showered Sam with praise. It had taken very little convincing on Blaine's part to get their friends to help – in fact the hardest part had been trying to get a hold of them when they had some free time, but once he had they were all more than willing to contribute to his little project.

Instead of watching the screen, Blaine watched Sam as their Glee friends, both past and present, spoke of how much Sam had done for them and others. Tina and Artie talked about all he had done for the glee club this year while Santana spoke of how 'Trouty Mouth' helped her try her hand at song writing (Blaine had no idea what this was about, but considering he felt lucky enough to even get Santana to agree to film something, he wasn't going to risk it by questioning her). The pair both laughed as Santana belted out a tune while Brittany insisted it was Sam who helped Sean Connery's career.

Blaine's smile turned fond as Kurt's face appeared on screen.

"When Sam first moved to McKinley he was willing to perform a duet with me, despite the fact that singing with the gay kid would have seriously damaged his image, particularly at a new school. Considering I was at a low point in my life at that time, even though we never sang together, the sentiment meant a lot."

Sam smiled softly at the memory, before the video shifted to Mercedes in L.A. then Finn back in Lima, tears welling in his eyes at their words.

"Now _that's_ your essay," Blaine said, gently closing the laptop.

Sniffing, Sam stood up and wrapped Blaine up in a teary hug. "Thanks bro."

Blaine hugged him back tightly. "Don't mention it."

* * *

"Kurt, are you even listening to me?"

"Hmm?" Kurt looked up at Adam from where he was absently stirring his coffee. "I'm sorry."

"What's got you so distracted?"

"Nothing." Kurt quickly took a sip of his coffee and winced at the chill. Wow, he really had been distracted. He placed his coffee back down on the table. "Can I ask you a hypothetical question?" At Adam's nod he continued. "Do you think it's… immature, for someone in college to still be with their high school boyfriend?"

"Why do I have the feeling this question isn't so hypothetical?" Kurt didn't comment. "Okay… _hypothetically_ I think to say high school relationships never work is disrespectful to all the couples who do make it work."

Kurt watched him carefully. "But? I feel like there's a but there."

"No but. I mean, well okay, it's not like we're still in high school and we're talking about spending the rest of your life with the first guy you've ever dated – _that_ would probably be a little naïve."

Kurt stiffened. "Blaine _is_ the first guy I've dated. He's the _only_ guy I've ever dated!"

Adam winced. "Oh."

Kurt looked down into his coffee to hide his hurt expression. "So what you're saying is I _am_ immature."

"No, no, not at all. Look, just ignore I said anything okay?" Adam watched Kurt carefully. "Are you having doubts about Blaine?"

"No!" Kurt's said firmly, his head snapping up as he finally looked Adam in the eye. "Absolutely not."

"Well then that's all that matters right? You love him, he loves you – who cares what other people think, right?"

"Right," Kurt agreed, but Adam's words still left an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

Kurt gave a small smile, and if Adam had known Kurt better, he would have known that the smile wasn't genuine.

* * *

**A/N: **So as you may have noticed, I tweaked Kurt's scene with Rachel a little. I just thought it was really stupid that a) Kurt would make that misogynist Ken comment followed by a misogynist comment himself in 'slutty barbie' and b) Kurt insulting Rachel's style is essentially insulting his own as he was the one who initially gave Rachel that makeover, and Kurt Hummel would _never_ insult his own sense of style.

And as for the additional scene with Adam at the end... it all leads somewhere! All I'm willing to say is that f you look back at previous eps (both canon and in my verse), particularly in his scenes with Rachel, you might get an inkling as to why Kurt is feeling this way.


	10. Diva

**Diva**

Kurt strolled through the halls of NYADA and rounded a corner only to stop as he heard his name mentioned. He watched as Rachel's two 'sycophants' (as he not-so-affectionately called them) talked about how he only got into NYADA because he was Carmen's pet 'Turtle Face'. While the snarky side of him couldn't help think 'Turtle Face? That's the best they could come up with?' he still couldn't help but feel a little hurt and alone, feeling an awful lot like he did in his early years of high school all over again. Although when he heard Rachel defending him, he felt gratitude well up inside of him – there was the Rachel that was his best friend.

The gratitude lasted for a brief moment. No, he was Kurt Hummel, he didn't need a ten second moment of Rachel remembering she was actually his friend and defending him after weeks of ignoring him and treating him like hired help. A few students teasing him? That was nothing compared to his days at McKinley.

"That's okay Rachel," he interrupted as he strode towards them. "I've dealt with a lot worse than bitchy gossip. However I got here, the point is I'm here. And me, my outfits, and my turtle face aren't going anywhere."

"We'll see about that, at Midnight Madness," one of the two men said with a sniff before they both strode off.

Kurt watched them go before glancing at Rachel, worry lining his face. While he _had_ suggested this diva-off to Rachel in a fit of anger, tired of her attitude and thinking it a way to teach her a lesson, he now realised that him winning or losing was going to mean so much more than bringing Rachel down a peg. He needed this win to validate his place at NYADA to all those who doubted him. He had confessed earlier to Rachel in a fit of anger that he had blown 'Defying Gravity' back in sophomore year deliberately, and he _knew_ that he had been good enough to win that diva-off. But now, with so much at stake (and annoying or not, Rachel was a hell of a performer), Kurt was starting to worry that he had bitten off more than he could chew…

* * *

Tina stared absently at the photos of Kurt sitting on Blaine's bedside table. She tried to ignore the fact that it was another reminder that Blaine was unavailable to her and tried to find a positive in her situation.

"Have you ever been with a girl?" Tina asked when Blaine entered the room, a cough announcing his presence. She asked not just out of curiosity but with a tinge of hope. Maybe Blaine was actually bisexual, like Brittany? That way she might just have a shot.

"Nope, perfect gold star gay," he told her in his croaky voice, looking fondly at the photos on his table. "Well, except for that one time that I kissed Rachel Berry."

"That doesn't count," Tina told him with a smile.

"Well it's not that I don't like girls, I love them," he insisted as he put down the tray he had brought in and sprawled on the bed. "They're very kind and sensitive, and their bodies are beautiful."

A pleasant thrill ran through Tina's body at the compliment. "Thank you! You know, on behalf of girls everywhere."

"But loving them _that_ way… it's just not who I am."

The high Tina was riding instantly crashed. Before any hope completely died she added; "We're young – we still have time to find ourselves."

"Exactly!"

Blaine then proceeded to show her a huge playlist of songs that he had put together for her and a smile slowly started to grow. She couldn't believe that even as sick as he was Blaine had still managed to do all of this for her.

Tina flicked through all the songs that Blaine had selected, Blaine in her ear insisting that she would be able to pull it off before a huge yawn overtook him.

"I'm sorry, it's this night time cold medicine, it's really taking it out of me."

Tina looked on in sympathy and suggested he lie down. She wasn't surprised that he was exhausted – even as his cold developed he still was going over the top in 'Diva Week', not just in performing but in helping her find her inner diva.

As Blaine lay down behind her as the cold medicine took its toll, Tina decided she couldn't hold it in any longer – it was time to confess her feelings. Holding back her tears, she let out everything she had been holding back for weeks before waiting for a response.

When a reply didn't come, Tina turned to face Blaine only to find him passed out, completely oblivious to everything she had just said. Fighting back tears, she reached out and cupped Blaine's face, her thumb gently stroking his cheek. He looked so beautiful while he slept that she couldn't find it in her heart to be angry that he had fallen asleep on her.

Blaine stirred slightly in his sleep at her touch, a small smile gracing his features as he gave a soft sigh, and Tina smiled in reply. That was until a mumbled 'Kurt' spilled from his lips.

Tina froze, slowly pulling her hand away. She felt her gaze drawn once again to Blaine's bedside table, to the photos of the man in question whose name Blaine had just whispered. That one whispered word was like the wakeup call that she needed.

"What the hell are you doing Tina Cohen-Chang," Tina murmured to herself. "You are crushing on a gay guy – a _gay guy_! One who also is totally not single and dating one of your good friends. You have hit a new low."

Sniffing and wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, Tina stood up and grabbed a blanket that was neatly folded on the chair in the corner of Blaine's room. Unfolding it, she gently draped it over Blaine's prone form before pressing a chaste kiss to Blaine's forehead, grabbing her bag and leaving his room, softly closing his door behind her.

* * *

The next day at school, Tina was at her locker, still a little down after her completely botched declaration of love from the night before. She had spent all night lying in bed wondering if it was a good or a bad thing that Blaine hadn't heard her confession – what if it had ruined their friendship? Tina glanced down the hall to where Blaine was talking to Artie and despite herself, she felt irrational anger well up inside her. God damn him, why did Blaine have to be so charming and wonderful and gay and therefore so not interested in her? It just wasn't fair!

Ripping off the photo of her and Blaine hanging up in her locker, she scrunched it up and threw it inside before slamming the door shut and stomping towards them. Completely ignoring Blaine's happy (and totally adorable) "Tay Tay!" she proceeded to rip into him, accusing him of taking her for granted as Blaine stared back in shock, all the while a part of her mind screaming at her to stop because the person she was really angry at wasn't him.

Before Blaine could process what had happened, Tina had stormed off and then proceeded to bring down the house with a performance of 'Hung Up' by Madonna. She channelled all of her anger into it, and it wasn't until she had finished that the annoying guilty part of her brain reminded her that she would never have had the idea for that song if Blaine hadn't have given it to her.

* * *

Kurt walked down the hall with Adam, the pair discussing his performance at Midnight Madness. While Kurt insisted it was luck that had scored him the win, Adam was insisting otherwise.

"Oh my God Kurt," came a voice from Kurt's right as Sycophant A strode towards them. "Everyone is buzzing about your triumph at Midnight Madness."

"A bunch of us are signing up for Funny Girl open call then getting rush tickets to see Mamma Mia. You _have_ to come with," insisted Sycophant B.

Kurt looked back and forth between the two. "I don't think so," he said, before proceeding to give the two of them a good old fashioned Kurt Hummel dressing down.

"Oh and another thing – if you say one more nasty thing about the Adam's Apples, I'll challenge you to the next Midnight Madness, and I think we all know how that ends." With an overly fake smile plastered on his face, Kurt's eyes flickered between the two as they stared in shock.

Adam chuckled. "That's very impressive. You didn't have to do that," Adam said as Rachel's former 'friends' walked off.

Kurt shrugged. "You and the Apples are my friends, and I'm sick of us getting insulted. It was nothing." Kurt frowned when he spotted a forlorn Rachel staring at the NYADA message board. "I'll catch you later okay?"

With a wave, Kurt walked towards his downcast friend, not noticing as Adam's eyes followed his every step.

* * *

Tina smiled down at her trophy, still basking in her win. A throat clearing drew her attention, and she looked up to see Blaine peering through a doorway.

"No diva performance is complete without flowers," he announced, handing her a single stemmed chocolate rose.

"Aw, how sweet," Tina gushed. "Literally."

"Well no one deserved to win this week more than you," Blaine said as they began to walk. "I have been waiting for people to _finally_ see the _epic_ diva that is Miss Tina Cohen-Chang." Blaine paused, before stopping to face Tina.

"I also owe you an apology. I'm sorry if I've been ungrateful this week –"

"Stop right there," Tina said, holding up a hand. "You don't need to apologize – I do. What I said… it was completely untrue. You've been a great friend – I was just angry at myself over something and instead of dealing with it I took it out on you and that was completely unfair of me. So here's me, saying I'm sorry to you, the way it should be."

Blaine smiled. "Apology accepted. There is no way I could _not_ accept – one thing I've realised lately is that you are one of the most important people to me at this school right now. And if I wasn't already going to Mr Shue's wedding with Kurt, I would be the first in line asking you to be my date. So here's what I would like to propose; Miss Tina Cohen-Chang, would you do me the honour of saving a dance for me?"

"I would love to Mr Anderson," Tina giggled, hooking her arm through his and the two of them strolled down the hall to their next class.

* * *

**A/N:** In case you haven't guessed, I am NOT a fan of what the writers did to Tina, and I _despise_ the vaporub scene (and the fact that the writers continue to make a joke out of it). And what's worse, the writers never made Tina apologize for it - instead they had Blaine apologize for 'not being there for Tina' when throughout the whole episode Blaine was nothing but supportive and trying to help. Therefore I tried to find a way to keep the stupid crush storyline without completely destroying Tina's character - I hope I succeeded.

Oh, and for all the people who are worried about Adam - all I can say is trust me (and although the Glee writers say this and then completely let us down, I hope so far I've proven to be faithful to the characters, in particular Klaine).


	11. I Do

Here's another chapter - I actually had this one written for a while, which is why it's out so quick. Thanks to everyone who's been leaving reviews!

Oh, and for Emserai - I have an idea for a filler for what you've asked for, I'm just not sure exactly when I will get it out because I'm trying to get more of the episodes out sooner, but hopefully it will get done!

* * *

**I Do**

Kurt moaned from where he was sprawled out in the back seat of his rental car. His feet kicked one of the doors as he shifted, which was understandable considering there was two of them trying to occupy the same space. He ground down onto the warm body beneath him before pulling himself away with a gasp and a suggestive smile.

"If I knew I was going to be groped in the back of a Prius I would have brought a change of clothes," Kurt giggled. "I'm going to go in there looking like prom the morning after."

"Hey, can you blame me?" Blaine said, pulling himself up onto his elbows from where he was pinned underneath Kurt's body. "Have you seen how good you look in this tux? You and this fey bow tie… it's my Kryptonite." Reaching up he pressed his lips to Kurt's and dragged him back down on top of him.

Kurt reciprocated for a few moments before dragging his lips away and trailing loud, wet kisses along Blaine's jaw line before reaching his neck. He was about to suck a mark onto his pulse point before he pulled away again.

"Wait, should we really be doing this? The wedding will be starting soon."

"Don't worry, the bride is always fashionably late. And besides, this is the first time we've seen each other since New Year's – we're both on edge, and this is just… easing the pressure so to speak. Think of it as bros helping bros."

Kurt grinned. Ever since they had dressed as Snookie and the Situation for Halloween in his senior year, Kurt had discovered that hearing his normally debonair boyfriend speak like he had just come straight from a college frat party was quite the turn on. "I love it when you talk fratty."

He sealed their lips back together, Blaine's hands sliding up Kurt's back, gripping his shirt and tugging. Kurt's hands were roaming over Blaine's chest and were just starting to trail down Blaine's chest towards his already unbuttoned pants when a loud rap on the car window startled the pair into separating.

"Oh come on!" Kurt cried in frustration, he and Blaine looking up to peer though the steamed up windows when the door opened and they were met with Mercedes' disapproving gaze.

"Hey can you two wrap it up, the wedding is about to start and I need my arm gays!"

Kurt reluctantly pulled back from where he was straddling Blaine so that his boyfriend could wiggle out from underneath him.

"Oh my god," Blaine giggled as he clambered out of the car, and Kurt wasn't sure if the reaction was from the cold air outside or the embarrassment at being caught.

Kurt followed Blaine out of the car, surreptitiously zipping up his own fly on the way.

"Do you realise how trashy and blasphemous this is?" Mercedes asked, her stern gaze flitting between the two of them.

"Oh come on Mercedes, this is a wedding, we're not the first couple ever to get it on in a car." Kurt's eyes were immediately drawn to where Blaine was shrugging on his own coat to cover his own state of disarray. Kurt could see flashes of skin where his shirt was unbuttoned and if Mercedes hadn't been standing between the two of them, he probably would have grabbed him and dragged him back into the car to finish what they had started. He quickly moved his own jacket in front of himself to hide his obvious arousal as Blaine wrapped his thick coat tightly around himself to do the same.

"Mmhmm," Mercedes said, looping her arms through one each of theirs. "Let's go, this dress needs an audience."

* * *

Hours later at the reception for the wedding that wasn't, Blaine and Kurt were giggling as they stepped off the stage as they basked in the high of performing.

"I need some punch, do you want anything?" Blaine asked, his hand reaching up to brush against the small of Kurt's back.

"Yeah, I'll grab a cup," Kurt said, smiling as Blaine headed off to grab the drinks. Kurt's eyes lit up when he spotted the food table. "Ooh, baby cupcakes!"

"Hey Kurt, can I talk to you?" Tina asked when she joined him at the table.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I've had a crush on Blaine," Tina blurted.

Kurt didn't even blink. "I know."

"You _know_?!"

Kurt shrugged. "Blaine's been telling me all about the things that have been going on in his life, and when he told me about all the compliments you've been giving him, asking him to the Sadie Hawkins dance etcetera etcetera I kind of figured it out. I know a hag when I see one – or hear about one as the case may be."

Tina looked mortified. "Oh God, he must think I'm an idiot."

"Honestly, I don't think Blaine realises – I think he may have suspected initially but dismissed it considering he's gay and you're a girl and just figured you were just being really friendly. It's this adorable yet slightly annoying quirk of his where Blaine doesn't quite realise how attractive he is. "

"So you don't hate me for crushing on your boyfriend?"

"No, of course not. It's just a crush, and in case you haven't noticed, Blaine is very much gay – nothing was ever going to happen. And have you seen my boyfriend? I think it's pretty much impossible for people _not_ to fall a little in love with him."

"He is very charming," Tina agreed with a smile.

"He is isn't he?" Kurt said wistfully, his head turning so he could watch Blaine across the room with a dreamy smile of his own.

"So we're all good?" Tina asked.

Kurt refocused his attention back on Tina and gave her a warm and genuine smile. "We're all good."

Tina started to walk away but then turned back. "You know, I hear people say all the time that high school relationships rarely last. I'm not surprised that out of all of the relationships in Glee club, yours and Blaine's has been the only one to last the distance."

Tina gave one last smile and walked away, leaving a delighted Kurt behind her.

* * *

Kurt sighed happily and snuggled closer to Blaine's warmth. Kurt was in perhaps one of his favourite places in the world – wrapped up in Blaine's arms with his head pillowed on Blaine's bare chest, feeling his heart beat underneath his cheek. The night had been perfect – Kurt and Blaine caught up with those friends they hadn't seen for a while, then Blaine had reminded Tina of the dance that she had promised him. After their dance was over, Kurt had come over and gathered Blaine in his arms, and the two of them danced together, holding each other close as they swayed together cheek to cheek before Kurt had whispered in Blaine's ear that he had rented a hotel room for the night so that they could celebrate Valentine's Day together a bit more… privately. Now they lay tangled together under the sheets, slightly sweaty and basking in the afterglow of some absolutely phenomenal sex.

One of Blaine's arms was wrapped tightly around Kurt's shoulders while the other hand was absently running up and down one of Kurt's arms. His fingers slowly trailed over the skin before reaching around and lightly gripping Kurt's bicep.

"Have you been working out?" Blaine asked, gently squeezing the muscle.

"Mmm, no more than usual. Although, NYADA's dance class is definitely what you would call a grade A workout. Why?"

"Your arms are bigger. And you look more toned since the last time I saw you."

"Oh that's probably due to Rachel – she's obsessed with improving her dancing so she keeps making me lift her so she can practice her 'poise' while in the air."

"Well remind me to send her a gift basket or something as a thank you because you look really good – really sexy."

"Sexy huh," Kurt grinned, raising his head to look down at Blaine as a pleased flush tinted his cheeks at the compliment. "Ooh, speaking of sexy, I had an interesting conversation with Tina earlier," Kurt said as his fingers began fiddling with the metal puzzle piece that Blaine wore. Kurt's matching piece was currently hanging around his own neck, brushing against Blaine's chest as he moved.

"Yeah? What about?" Blaine asked, looking a bit confused as to how sexy talk had led to Tina.

"You. She kind of apologized to me for having a crush on you."

"Wait, what? Tina has a crush on me? Since when?"

"A while. Since about the Sadie Hawkins dance I'd suspect."

"How did I not know about this?"

"Honey, I was crushing on you for months, and I had to _tell_ you about it before you knew."

Blaine smiled sheepishly. "True. Still, I don't understand why Tina would have a crush on me – she knows I'm gay."

"Well you are very crush worthy, believe me, and the heart wants what the heart wants I guess." Kurt grinned when Blaine teasingly slapped his bare shoulder. "I think she's just lonely I guess, especially today – a wedding on Valentine's Day; you can't really get more romantic than that."

"Well, sort of wedding. I feel sorry for Mr Shue – being stood up at your own wedding."

Kurt hummed in agreement as he rested his head back on Blaine's chest. "Me too. While I can't say I'm 100% surprised that Miss Pilsbury bailed, I still think it was a bit harsh."

"Can you promise me something?" Blaine asked. Lifting his head again, Kurt looked down into Blaine's eyes. "Sometime in the future, when we decide to get married, if you decide you can't go through with it for any reason, can you let me know before hand? Don't leave me standing at the altar wondering what I did wrong."

"I don't need to promise anything," Kurt said. He reached out with a finger and smoothed the crease that had appeared in between Blaine's brows. "Because there is nothing in this world that will stop me from one day marrying you Blaine Anderson. And besides," he added cheekily. "Do you realise how expensive it would be to run out on a wedding? You can't get your deposit back on _anything_."

Kurt burst out laughing as Blaine playfully growled and tackled him, rolling Kurt so that he was pinned underneath him and silencing his giggles with a kiss.

* * *

Blaine grinned as he headed towards his locker to find Kurt leaning next to it, waiting for him. It was the day after the wedding and Kurt was still in Lima for a little while longer so he had (rather easily) managed to convince Blaine to skip the last class of the day so they could go see a movie.

"I swear Blaine Anderson, I am never letting you touch me again," Kurt said in way of greeting, although the twinkle in his eye and small pout led Blaine to realise he didn't have anything to worry about.

"And why is that exactly?" Blaine asked as he opened his locker and started to put away everything he didn't need.

"You should see my neck! I have so many hickies I look like I've developed some sort of skin disease."

"Hey, you're not completely innocent either – I'm not exactly hicky free either you know."

Kurt glanced around him at the crowded halls before leaning closer to Blaine and murmuring, "Yeah, but at least they're in places no one can see."

Blaine felt his cheeks heat up. "Sorry," he said, although his grin suggested he was anything but.

"Yeah well, it's a good thing it is still winter – it doesn't look too suspicious when I wear a turtleneck." Kurt's lips turned up into a coy smile that reminded Blaine of the one he wore when he had grabbed Blaine's tie and dragged him into that hotel room, and it made Blaine's stomach swoop at the thought. "You know, I think you may have a bit of an obsession with my neck."

"You've only just realised this?" Blaine grinned, his eyes flickering to Kurt's long, pale neck – the perfect blank canvas for leaving bite marks. The barely discernible height difference between the two of them of about three inches was just right as it meant that Blaine's lips were at the perfect height to nuzzle into Kurt's neck – who was he to deny himself exploiting that little perk whenever he could?

Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine saw Tina approach them. "Oh hey Tina!" he said brightly, closing his locker as she stopped in front of the couple.

"Hey you guys," Tina said before focussing on Blaine. "Look Blaine, I've already talked to Kurt, and now I really need to apologize to you."

"About the crush?" Blaine asked. "Kurt already told me about it – you don't need to apologize. It was a simple crush, no harm done."

"But I want to say sorry anyway. I'm sorry I've been throwing myself at you, making a fool of myself, hoping for something that I know can never be. I guess lately I've been missing having someone in my life you know? And seeing you two at the reception, singing together – I saw the old legendary chemistry; I saw two soul mates connecting and I thought I had that once, and I just wish I could feel what you guys feel."

"You will, I know it," Kurt said. "Hey look, we're going to the double feature of 'All About Eve' and 'Showgirls' at the Revival House if you wanna come with us?"

"Well, mystery solved – Hagatha Christie, I'm going to be a third wheel for the rest of my life."

"First of all, that is not even _remotely_ true. Starting right now, I am going to help you get a boyfriend," Blaine declared, looping an arm through Tina's right arm as Kurt looped his own through Tina's left.

"And second of all, when I called you a hag, I was bringing attention to the fact that you were honouring the noble and proud tradition of hagdom," Kurt added as they strolled down McKinley's halls.

"Yeah," Blaine continued. "And I for one am psyched that my very first hag was someone as kick ass as –"

"Miss Tina Cohen-Chang!" Kurt and Blaine finished together as they led their friend to the exit.


	12. Girls (And Boys) On Film

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since an update - real life has been getting in the way. I'll try not to be so long in the next update (although no promises, sorry!)

* * *

**Girls (And Boys) On Film**

"Stupid snow," Kurt grumbled, his chin resting on his hand as he glanced towards the window that Santana was gazing out of, the snow outside still falling heavily.

"Well someone's a little bitchy today," Santana commented as she turned around. "I think someone needs to get laid."

"I _was_ supposed to be getting laid, but the stupid snow prevented that!" Kurt replied, gesturing angrily towards the window.

Adam leaned against the counter and threw the pair a questioning look.

"Lover boy here was supposed to have his boyfriend visit this weekend, but the airports all shut down because of the snow," Santana explained.

"I haven't seen Blaine since Mr Shue's wedding weeks ago," Kurt whined. "This sucks."

"I'm surprised, I would have thought you would have been all sexed out for at least a couple of months the way you and Blaine were going at it like rabbits at the wedding," Santana said. "The walls weren't as thick as you think you know."

"Shut up Santana," Kurt said through gritted teeth, his face flushing with embarrassment. "Rachel and I are letting you live here rent free, the least you could do is –"

"Where is Rachel anyway?" Santana interrupted, before slinging out more biting remarks, this time in both Brody's and Rachel's direction before Rachel stormed out and demanded that Santana move out.

The pair snapped at each other for a few minutes until Kurt quickly intervened before things went too far, reminding them of the movie marathon they were supposed to be having to stave off boredom. In the end, they all agreed to his suggestion that they watch 'Moulin Rouge' (although he had no idea why Rachel didn't want to watch 'She's Having a Baby'; he always thought that she loved that movie). A crisis had been averted for now, but it seemed to Kurt only a matter of time before tensions would arise between them again.

* * *

_Come what may,_

_I will love you._

_I will love you…_

A tear slowly trickled down Kurt's cheek as his fantasy of he and Blaine together faded away to be replaced by the movie that was still running on the tv.

"Kurt, are you crying?" Adam asked from his position next to Kurt on the couch.

Embarrassed, Kurt tried to discreetly wipe away his tears. "No, no my contacts are really bothering me right now."

"I didn't know you had contacts," Rachel piped up unhelpfully.

Kurt turned to stare ferociously at her. "Yes Rachel, I just found out I have a slight stigmatism."

"I think I have some solution in my bag," Adam said, leaning over to search for it.

"No, no, I'll be fine, I'm good, don't worry about it," Kurt rushed out, trying not to panic as his little lie suddenly got out of hand.

"I would have thought you were crying because you and Blaine have talked about how it's your dream to sing this song at your wedding," Santana joined in.

Kurt's eyes darted towards Adam, and he shifted uncomfortably as he remembered the other man's words weeks ago about how dreaming about marrying your high school sweetheart was naïve. "Did we?" he asked, levelling a glare at Santana and trying to throw a warning in his voice.

"Yeah," Santana continued, clearly enjoying making Kurt squirm. "I remember you telling me that singing this song to someone was a more intimate act than sex."

Faced with three sets of eyes watching him, he caved. "Fine, yes I was crying about that, okay? I miss my boyfriend who I _should_ have been able to see this weekend, is that so bad?"

Rachel put a comforting hand on Kurt's knee as Santana ignored him, standing up and pausing the movie, while announcing that she had something to say. "That Brody character is a freaking psycho."

Kurt immediately perked up from where he was pouting on the couch, his own dislike for Brody making Santana's words peak his interest. "Go on."

Kurt nodded along as Santana went on a long rant over Brody, but his attitude quickly changed when she revealed she had rummaged through their belongings.

"That is completely unacceptable!" he argued.

Although he had to admit, his anger evaporated when Santana suggested that Brody may be a drug dealer, because while normally Santana's outlandish accusations would have him scoffing, he had to admit that this idea had him wondering.

* * *

It was now 48 hours that they had all been confined together in their apartment, and they were all starting to get a little stir crazy. Rachel had just hung up with Brody in an attempt to prove that he wasn't up to anything, but it hadn't exactly worked out for her.

"I'm with you," Kurt whispered to Santana, before mouthing the words 'drug dealer'.

Rachel obviously overheard because she turned and glared at the two of them. "Are we going to watch the movie or what?"

"Do we really have to watch the movie _again_?" Santana complained.

"Well…" Adam interjected from where he was sprawled out on the couch. "I have an idea. I just heard from one of the guys at school. Apparently a bunch of them are taking advantage of the fact that NYADA is closed and are throwing a party."

"Oh god, I can just image what a party filled with a bunch of drama queens would be like," Santana groaned. "By the end of the night everyone will be either quoting Shakespeare or performing a drunken rendition of the entirety of Newsies. Glad I'm missing it."

"Well I was thinking, even though with the snow there is no way we'll be able to get to it, it doesn't mean that we have to miss out," Adam said. "There's a liquor store downstairs that I think might still be open – we can go get some, crank up some music, have some fun of our own."

"Oh I don't know…" Kurt said uncertainly.

"Oh come on Kurt, it'll be fun. You can't say you've truly experienced college life unless you've been completely off your face at a party," Adam laughed.

"I'm not sure we should," Rachel intervened. "I mean, Kurt, you won't even touch alcohol so I'm not sure it's a good idea."

"You don't drink?" Adam asked incredulously.

"What? No. I mean yes. I mean – well, I never really had much opportunity to drink you know?" Kurt felt like squirming under Adam's look and couldn't help but feel like a small child. "But you know what, it could be fun." Ignoring Rachel's shocked look, Kurt turned to look Adam in the eye. "I'm in."

"Considering the other options we have for being stuck in here, I'm down with a little drinking," Santana added.

"Well, I don't really feel like drinking," Rachel said uncomfortably, folding her arms across her chest.

"Why not?" Kurt asked. "You enjoyed it the last time you got hammered. And made out with my boyfriend if I remember correctly – which I do."

"He wasn't your boyfriend at the time and I just don't feel like it okay?" Rachel said defensively.

"It'll actually be good if we have someone who doesn't drink," Santana interrupted. "You know, have someone responsible in case something goes wrong."

Kurt felt a flash of confusion at the suspicious yet grateful look that Rachel threw Santana.

"Now come along Doctor Who," Santana said, grabbing her bag in one hand and Adam with the other, leading him to the door. "Let's go get some booze, and I don't trust you to get the good stuff so I'm coming with. You'd probably get something English to make you feel like home, like Guinness or something."

"Actually Guinness is Irish," Adam protested before the door closed behind them.

* * *

Kurt was having fun. He was more than a little drunk (he found that having only had alcohol once before meant that he had a very low tolerance and it had only taken a few drinks for him to get that way) and right now he was wondering why he had always avoided alcohol. He was feeling pleasantly buzzed, and after the four of them had just finished belting out 'Lady Marmalade' he was feeling the natural high he always got from singing as well.

"This is fun," Kurt said to Adam, as he waited for Adam to pour another drink. Adam appeared to be only a little bit tipsy, whereas it was safe to say that Kurt was pretty much smashed. "Who knew this could be so much fun? Are you having fun?"

"Loads of fun," Adam grinned, as Kurt leaned heavily against him. "You are so cute."

"I know right," Kurt grinned, pulling back so that he could look at Adam properly. He fluttered his eyelashes. "I'm just like Bambi."

"I was thinking more along the lines of sexy rather than Disney," Adam said.

Kurt blinked slowly, unsure of how to answer when Adam suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kurt's.

It felt like someone had thrown cold water over his head – while the room still felt like it was spinning, his mind had never been clearer. Planting his hands on Adam's chest, Kurt immediately pushed Adam away and stepped backwards (the familiarity of the gesture causing Kurt's stomach to churn). There was silence in the living area, and Kurt could see Rachel and Santana staring open mouthed in shock.

"Oh my god, Kurt…" Adam said taking a step forward, and without thinking Kurt immediately took another step backwards, his back hitting the kitchen counter.

Adam ran a hand over his face. "Maybe I should go."

"Yes, maybe you should," Santana said from her position by the couch, her arms folded crossly over her chest.

"I know a guy not too far from here. I'll just go crash there until the snow clears," Adam said, and without another word he turned and left.

Rachel and Santana turned simultaneously to look at Kurt with concern. His face was pale and he was still standing stunned up against the kitchen bench.

"I don't really feel well. I think I'm going to go to bed," he said before either of them could say anything. He quickly stumbled to his 'room' and climbed into bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes. Curling himself into a ball and not caring that Santana and Rachel could probably hear him, he buried his face in his pillow and began to cry.

* * *

As Kurt slowly awoke he realised two things. First; judging by how bright it was, it looked like he had slept in until about noon. Second; his throat felt scratchy, his eyes were gunky after crying himself to sleep and his head was absolutely throbbing.

Groaning loudly, he pulled the blankets over his head in an attempt to block out the light (how dare the sun be so bright anyway?) and curled up into a ball in his cocoon of blankets. He felt the bed dip and a hand rest on his side.

"Ugh, please just leave me to _die_," he moaned dramatically.

"Sorry Kurt, but I think I'd be kind of lonely if I lost my best friend."

Kurt slowly pulled down the blankets until just his bleary eyes were peering above them. Rachel was sitting beside him with a glass of water in one hand and a couple of pills in the other.

"I brought you some aspirin. I thought you might need it."

"Ugh, you're the _best_," Kurt groaned, sitting up and taking the pills and water and immediately swallowing them. Placing the now empty glass of water on the bedside table, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes before drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face in them. "Seriously, I am _never_ drinking again. Like ever."

"Do you want to talk about last night?" Rachel asked.

"What about last night?" Kurt asked, his knees muffling his voice.

"Well, let's start with the drinking. The Kurt Hummel that I saw last night wasn't the Kurt Hummel that I know. I thought after the incident where you threw up on Miss Pilsbury's shoes that you said you were never going to drink again? What changed last night?"

Kurt turned his head and stared at his bedspread, his fingers absently picking at the material. "I guess I wanted Adam to think that I was cool," he mumbled. "I don't want people thinking of me as a silly little school boy."

"People don't think that way about you!" Rachel insisted. "And even if they did, since when do you care about what some random stranger thinks?"

Gathering his courage, Kurt lifted his eyes to look at Rachel and finally tell her what had been bothering him for months. "I don't care about what strangers think about me. I _do_ care about what the people I love think – my family, my friends… you."

Rachel gasped and recoiled in surprise. "What?"

"For a while now you keep telling me that I need to grow up; that my wanting to go back home is moving backwards, or that having a boyfriend who is still in high school is immature. I figured if you saw me as childish, then everyone else must do as well. I haven't really made many friends at NYADA except for Adam, and he's so much older and mature – I didn't want him to think that I wasn't grown up enough to be his friend."

"Oh Kurt," Rachel said, her voice cracking. She leaned forward and wrapped Kurt in a warm hug. "I am so, _so _sorry I made you feel that way. I didn't mean any of it I _swear_." Rachel pulled back and it was her turn to stare at the bedspread. "To tell you the truth, I think I said all of those things because I saw how my life has turned out nothing like I planned, so I figured that if I try to be all grown up it wouldn't feel so bad. I thought NYADA was going to be a breeze; that my talent would blow everyone away. Then I get here, only to find that while I may have stood out at McKinley, here I'm surrounded by people that are equally as talented. And once upon a time I thought that I would spend the rest of my life with Finn, so when that didn't work out I tried to make myself feel better by saying 'well hey, it was just a silly little high school romance', even though I knew in my heart it was more than that. And when I see you and Blaine; how you two are able to make it work – I get jealous. If anything, you are far more mature than I am – we're all still teenagers, yet you and Blaine are able to make this long distance relationship work while I never could."

Rachel looked up into Kurt's eyes and reached for his hand. "I am so sorry if my silly insecurities ever made you doubt your relationship with Blaine."

Kurt squeezed Rachel's hand. "You didn't. I may have doubted myself, but I have never doubted the way that I feel about Blaine." Kurt groaned at the thought of his boyfriend back in Lima. "And I am so not looking forward to telling him about what happened with Adam – there is no way I would feel comfortable about keeping this from him. I know he'll understand though."

"When are you going to tell him?"

"I'll Skype him this afternoon, when he gets home from school. I need to do this face to face, and hopefully by then I'll have sobered up enough to be able to think properly."

Rachel nodded then looked carefully at Kurt. "And what are you going to do about Adam?"

Kurt sighed. "I don't know. He took advantage of me when I was drunk – friends don't kiss friends who are not only vulnerable but also completely unavailable. I need some time to think about it."

"Well whatever you decide, I'm here for you," Rachel said, as she scooted up next to Kurt and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Kurt smiled. "Thanks Rachel. And I really hate to ruin this beautiful moment, but I've only just woken up and I had quite a bit to drink last night; something that my bladder has just so kindly reminded me of."

Quickly throwing back the covers, Kurt rushed towards the bathroom, Rachel's laughter echoing behind him.

* * *

Kurt was alone in the NYADA dance room, standing in front of a mirror as he practiced his pirouettes. The snow had finally cleared enough for him to return to class, although his mind still remained elsewhere, still thinking back to the conversation he had with Blaine the day before. He was startled from his thoughts by a voice in the doorway.

"What's shakin' bacon?"

Kurt froze and turned to face Adam. Adam's smile dropped when he spotted the expression on Kurt's face. He gripped his bag tightly as he walked towards Kurt.

"Look Kurt, I need to apologize. I should never have kissed you – I was drunk, I didn't know what I was doing."

Kurt sniffed in derision. "I was drunk too Adam, remember? But I still had enough sense to know not to go around kissing other guys."

"It not what you think –"

"Think what exactly?" Kurt interrupted, glaring at Adam. "You _knew_ I wasn't interested in you, you _know_ that I am seeing Blaine, but you kissed me anyway. I thought that you were my friend, but you completely disregarded my feelings to do something that _you_ wanted to do, knowing full well that it was something that would hurt me. And if that wasn't painful enough, I then had to see the look of hurt on my boyfriend's face when I told him what happened."

"You told Blaine?"

"Of course I told Blaine. I don't keep secrets from my boyfriend – I know from experience that it only leads to trouble. And there was no way I was going to hide this from him."

Kurt balled up his fists and raised his chin defiantly. "I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"Wait what?" Adam spluttered. "Kurt, it was a _mistake_, one that I don't think we should ruin our friendship over. It won't happen again."

"Friendship? What friendship? We've barely known each other for two months, and a true friend would _never_ have tried to kiss me, knowing full well that that is the _last_ thing that I would have wanted! You betrayed my trust! How can I ever believe that you wouldn't do it again; how can I be _sure_?"

"Because I swear it won't!" Adam insisted.

Kurt laughed dryly. "You _swear_? When we first met you said you found me attractive and that you would have liked to date me. Is that still true?"

Adam opened his mouth, but then shut it without a word, looking away and unable to meet Kurt's eyes.

"You know what?" Kurt said. "You don't need to say anything; I think it's pretty clear from your actions what your answer will be. How can I possibly continue a friendship with you knowing that you feel that way about me; knowing that you'd like to kiss me again, and the fact that you kissed me the other night shows that you don't respect me or my relationship with Blaine. I will always be wondering if you'll slip up and try again."

Kurt folded his arms over his chest defensively. "This isn't the first time that someone has kissed me against my will, but you know what? I am going to make _damn_ sure that it is the last. I don't need the stress and neither does Blaine; the man I fully intend to spend the rest of my life with, no matter how _naïve_ you think it is."

"So this is what it's really about then?" Adam argued as Kurt turned away from him. "Blaine wanted you to stop seeing me?"

Kurt gave another humourless laugh and faced Adam again. "You clearly haven't listened to a word that I've said, and what you just said right there shows how little you actually know me. Blaine doesn't tell me what to do,_ I_ do, and Blaine supports me in whatever I choose – if I decided to remain friends with you, even if he didn't like it he would support my choice. No, this is _my_ decision – I know it may not be the nicest decision, but you know what? I don't care. For once I'm going to stop putting other people's feelings ahead of my own and I'm going to do what is the best thing to do _for me_."

Kurt reached down and grabbed his bag. "Good bye Adam," he said, and walked out the door.

* * *

**A/N:** This is going to be another long note, so be prepared.

My version of this episode is obviously a little bit longer and different to the original, but considering a lot of this on Kurt's behalf was him denying he was still in love with Blaine, it was going to have to be altered anyway. I've had the idea of Kurt getting drunk at a party for a while and this episode seemed like the best one to fit it in, not only because being snowed in was the perfect set up, but it was also a way to explain why we don't see Adam from here on.

Firstly, for anyone who thinks Kurt drinking is out of character, I wanted to show how (with Kurt's self-esteem getting hit by his best friend for months) peer pressure can sometimes get to you. I also wanted Kurt to finally be able to confront Rachel (I don't count their talk in Diva, because that once again became about making Rachel feeling better rather than calling her out on her bull). Also, in the original outline for this fic, I had initially thought about having Blaine snowed in with them, but it never quite fit and I realised that the scene where Kurt is hung over, while initially designed for with Blaine, would be the perfect opportunity for Kurt and Rachel to talk things through, so Blaine stayed in Lima.

As for Adam – I had been tossing the idea of the kiss for a while to add a little drama (because as much as I'd like to, I can't have their lives being completely smooth sailing – that never happens in the world of Glee), but I was unsure about it. I hate how this show doesn't seem to believe that a guy and a girl or, in this case, two gay guys, can't be friends with no romantic feelings involved, and I wanted Adam to be that for Kurt. But then the episode aired, and while I was never a fan of Adam, after he kept pushing Kurt to be in a relationship with him rather than stepping back and letting Kurt sort out his feelings, I wanted him gone – both in the show and my fic. It may be selfish, but hey, it's my fic.


	13. Feud

"How'd it go?" Sam asked as Blaine rounded the corner.

"Exactly as planned," Blaine said. "I'm gonna work from the inside and bring her down. By the time we graduate Sue Sylvester's rein of terror will finally be over."

"Excellent!" Sam said, raising his hand to slap Blaine's in a high five before the pair quickly separated.

Blaine walked over to his locker and had only just opened it when Tina stormed up.

"I think it is completely unfair what happened in the Diva-off," Tina said furiously in lieu of a greeting.

Blaine smiled. "It's okay Tina."

"No it's not! You clearly didn't want to re-join the Cheerios, and as your friends, the Glee club should have voted you the winner so that you didn't have to do something you didn't want to do, regardless of whether or not they thought that Coach Sylvester was better, which she _wasn't_. You know what? I'm going to march in there right now and _demand_ that she let you off. Or I'll tell Principal Figgins! I'll tell him how she practically blackmailed you and that as Senior Class President –"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Blaine laughed, placing some reassuring hands on Tina's shoulders, trying to prevent her from running off. "I appreciate the rage on my behalf, but seriously Tina, it's _fine_. It's not as bad as you think. I can't exactly tell you how – the fewer people who know, the better – but it will all work out in the end. Trust me."

Tina's eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion and curiosity before slowly nodding. "Okay. But only because you insist, otherwise I would _totally_ give Coach Sylvester a piece of my mind."

"Of that I have no doubt," Blaine grinned. "You're a great friend Tina."

"I know," Tina said with a smile and an exaggerated flick of her hair that made Blaine laugh. "Anyway, did you wanna come to the mall with me after school today and hang out?"

"I wish I could," Blaine said regretfully. "But I have Cheerio practice after school and then I've got to head straight to the airport because I'm seeing Kurt this weekend."

"Oh that's right, I totally forgot this was your New York weekend," Tina said. "You won't forget to say hi to Kurt for me will you?"

"Of course not," Blaine insisted. "Why don't you head off to Glee and I'll meet you there in a few minutes? I have to get a few of my things that I need to take with me to New York."

"Sure, I'll see you soon."

Tina gave a little wave and headed off to the auditorium, while Blaine turned back to his locker. Doing homework while visiting Kurt wasn't ideal, but there were a few things that he needed to have done this weekend and he would have no time to do it once he got home. He pulled out a few books, and after a moment's hesitation also removed the unopened envelope that had been sitting in his locker for the past few days. Staring silently at the NYADA logo in the corner, he eventually slipped the envelope safely inside his maths book before shoving the book in his bag, closing his locker and heading to the auditorium.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello again! So the one for Feud wasn't very long because this episode wasn't very damaging Klaine wise, so I decided to keep it as is and just tack a little bit on at the end, and give a little bit of a tease of a subject that should have been addressed by now (seriously, we've only had one mention of NYADA - Blaine should have had his letter by now).

And if anyone is wondering, yes there will be a filler fic of Blaine's weekend in New York. I have already started on it, and boy it looks like it's gonna be long, so keep an eye out for it.

And as for the filler fic where Blaine finds out about the kiss with Adam from the last chapter that a lot of people have been asking for - it will be called "It All Started With A Stupid Snow Storm" and is done; I'm just looking over it so it should be out very soon!


End file.
